The Perfect Stranger
by lilacflower2
Summary: Odelle (OC) goes to Paris w/ her friend Susie & her parents (OCs). She arrived there hoping she would fall in love w/ a stranger at first sight, sadly, it didn't happen. However, when she took a trip to the Eiffel tower, she met a strange Japanese boy. They talked for a while, but he's more than meets the eye.
1. Meeting the stranger

Lily: Welcome to...the perfect stranger! -dun dun dun- lol, now that I've had a weird intro, you should know that this had characters and stuff from Shugo, but its in a twisted universe where Ikuto meets someone after he called Amu from paris.

Ikuto: So no Amu to toy with?

Lily: nope, better. Now make your call! Oh, and I don't own anything except a few characters and maybe some lyrics that'll come later. (It'll directly state if its mine or not ^^ you'll know)(also, I may say Odelle wrote it, but it would be something wrote that just happens to fit XD)

Ikuto: Who's Ode-

Lily: Okay people! scroll down already and read the actual story!

Chapter 1

In some love stories, the girl hates the guy then falls in love with him over time. Or maybe she dreams of finding her prince and ends up meeting him while she's dreaming. Or sometimes she goes to a ball and loses her slipper. Well, in this story, it all started in Paris; the city of love.

"So, how do you like Paris so far?" asked my best friend ever, Susie. Her family was going to Paris over spring break, and she asked if I could go. I didn't have any big plans, and since they were paying for my ticket, my parents said sure. I felt like a huge loner though seeing so many couples or at least people in love. Right now, my friend and I were riding up the elevator to get to the visitors balcony of the Eiffel tower.

When we stepped off, the first thing me friend and I heard was "I'd kiss you, and hug you, and everything else." Well, I heard that. She asked me to translate since it was Japanese. I looked down and want to cry. I was in the city of love, where dreams are supposed to come true in the most fairytale-like manner possible, but I felt more alone and pathetic than ever.

My friend and I went to the rail and sat at one of the little café-style tables. I started to zone off at the city below.

"Odelle… Odelle… ODELLE!" I snapped back, only to see people staring. I looked at saw the Japanese guy laughing. I know he already has a girlfriend, but he was still _really_ cute. I slid down into my chair.

"Yes, Su?" I was wincing. People finally stopped staring, so I came back up. I looked back to the Japanese guy. He was still looking, but now he was looking at me weird. Not like he was wondering why I was staring at him, but like something clicked in his mind from something I said. "Okay, before you start, I need to be right back."

"Um, okay?" Susie seemed a bit confused, but she was used to it. I walked over to the guy, and it was like he snapped back to reality.

"Oh, um, hi." He started, knowing obviously why I came over. Oh, by the way, I'm changing everything he said to English.

"Hi. Do you want to tell me why you were looking at me weird when I said Su?"

"Oh, just reminded me of someone back in Japan. Sorry." He gave a sweet smile, saying he felt awkward about it. I felt bad now, so I returned the smile.

"I-it's okay. I kind of understand that feeling." I leaned onto the rail and watched the city go by for a couple seconds, before looking back up at him.

"If you don't mind my asking, who's the lucky guy?" He looked like he genuinely wanted to know, so I figured, what the heck.

"Well, technically no one, but well…it's a long story."

"I have time." He leaned into the rail next to me." He smiled teasingly.

"Well, I met him a year or so ago, and I gradually started liking him. Well, a girl he literally met just before I me denied him. She's that kind of girl who guys fall for all the time, though, so it was easy for her to deny him. Anyway, so we met soon after and hung out a lot after that. I gradually started liking him, and she did as well. She was far more out-going than I was, so two months ago, she confessed to him, and I over-heard everything." I looked at the guy to be sure he wasn't getting bored out of his skull, but he actually looked more intrigued. "I told him how I felt, but he thought I was joking. I think the girl he's with is nice, but I don't think they'll last long. I told him a couple of days ago how I really feel, and it wasn't a joke. They were still dating, so he looked shocked. I gave an awkward smile and walked away. I don't plan on going back." I looked over to my friend who was just texting on her now, or playing Angry Birds.

"Wait, what?" The guy seemed super confused.

"My friend asked me if I'd like to come here for break, but before I left to get on the plane, I stuck a note in my mom's purse, telling her goodbye and what I felt like I needed to do. I'm not going back to my home town until I know who I am, and other things." It was relieving telling someone.

"I guess I don't blame you." He looked out into the city, and I looked at him. "I've been traveling for a while. My love story is similar to yours, although, I'm now not quite sure of how I feel for her. Also, I'm out looking for clues on where my father might be. Well, my real father that is." He paused for a moment, and then looked back to me. "Did we ever formally greet each other?" Shock went across my face when I realized we hadn't. I didn't have a clue what his name was. "Ha ha. I guess not. I'm Ikuto." He held his hand out. He must've caught the American accent, because Japanese people don't normally shake hands.

"Odelle." I reached back to his hand and shook it.

"So tell me, Odelle, how long are you in Paris? I'll be here another week or so." If he didn't already have a girl he liked, I'd swear he was flirting.

"I really don't know. My plane leaves in four days, but whether I'm on it or not is the question." Things were so confusing for me right now, and I needed time to think where nobody could tell me what decision to make.

"You're a brave girl." Now _that_ caught my attention. I looked up at him in the best _say WHAT?!_ face I could. "I mean, I know so many girls who want to go out and explore the world, but you seem like you're really going to do it. That takes bravery." He gave me a proud smile. It was weird talking to him. I only knew him, maybe twenty minutes, but yet it felt like I'd always known him. That's when Susie came in.

"Odelllle." She cried. "oh, who's-?"

"Ikuto." He held out his hand for her. She looked at me with an approving smile, causing my head to fall flat onto my palm.

"I'm Odelle's friend, Susie." She shook his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Susie." He said in English.

"You speak English?!" Susie and I exclaimed at once.

"Yeah, I needed to learn that for my world-wide trip. It's better than learning fifty languages." He tried joking. We just stood there feeling like morons.

"Relax, you couldn't know." He rubbed my back a little bit. I rolled my eyes. I looked at my phone to see it was nearly six here; the ideal time to see the sunset this time of year.

"Look, look!" I squealed with excitement. The sky was pink and red with hints of orange. The sun was bursting with color and it was the most beautiful sunset I'd ever seen.

"You did research on this, didn't you Odelle?" Susie said teasingly. I always had to plan a trip perfectly.

"Maybe…" Susie burst with laughter, so I darted a look at her to calm down. Once she stopped laughing like a crazy woman, the three of us just stood there, enjoying the sunset. After about five minutes, Ikuto broke the silence.

"Would you guys mind if I took you out to dinner? Not a date of course, but to thank you for this pleasant evening."

Susie, of course, spoke first. "Sorry, I can't. I promised my parents we'd spend every dinner here in France together, but Odelle made no such promise." I looked at her as fast as I could. She smiled at me the smile she always gave when she was helping me trust more. My parents always talked about the news, so I heard a lot of horror stories involving trusting strangers.

"So, will you join me?" He said, directly to me. His eyes were obviously trying to charm, but I was a brick. You can't charm a brick to do anything they didn't want to do. Sadly, since a part of me wanted to say yes, the charm worked, and a strange Japanese boy was talking me to dinner.

"Bye." Susie said when we got her to the hotel. He got a taxi cab to get us to the restaurant, and we dropped her off on way there. When Susie left, I realized I was now in the back of a cab in Paris with a perfect stranger. Literally, he so far seemed perfect. I just sat there looking down at my feet with my face red as a tomato. When Ikuto looked over, he chuckled and lifted my head up.

"You really don't have to come." He smiled charmingly, with his finger under my chin, making me blush more. It was right then I realized he had to be way older than me. I also realized most people at first look thought I was several years older than I am. I looked back down, but I think he already saw the spaced looked on my face saying _Oh crap._

"You okay, Del?" He gave me a worried and confused look.

"This was a mistake…" Now he was really confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Stop the cab!" The driver did as told, and I got out.

"What's a mistake?" Ikuto called out after me. He paid the driver for how far we'd gotten and got out chasing after me. "Wait just a second!"

I stopped and had my back to him so I didn't have to see his face. "You're probably thinking I'm 16, 17, maybe 18, right? Reality check, though-"

"You're 14." He said blankly. I paused, unsure of what to say. "You're only 14. I can tell because, normally, sixteen year olds who look and act mature like you are taken." He put an arm around my shoulder. "And yes, knowing this, I still asked you to dinner. Why? Because sometimes you find the best people are not the same age as you, but younger." I could tell he was smiling, but I held my head down. I could tell that any moment tears would fall down my red cheeks in embarrassment. I tried holding them back, but they still fell. That's when he wrapped me in a hug.

"I'm sorry." I said. I didn't know what else to say. He just hugged me tighter.

"C'mon. Let's go eat."

Lily: So, does that answer you'e question from before, Ikuto?

Ikuto: Yes, thank you.

Odelle: So is not having Amu soooo bad? wait...who's...

Lily: You'll know later ;)

Ikuto: Yes, you will. For now, we'll just hope people leave a review...-hint hint-


	2. Surprises surprises

Lily: Hey guys! if you're reading this chapter, you obviously enjoyed the first one some-what, so thank you!

Ikuto: You couldn't think of something more interesting to say?

Odelle: Ikuto, how could u be so rude?

Ikuto: sorry... -gives her a charming smile-

Odelle: Brick.

Lily: Okay! Odelle, hit it!

Odelle: Lily doesn't own anything except some characters like me and Susie!

Susie: Did I hear my name?

-everyone looks down shaking there heads in disappointment.-

Chapter 2

After dinner, we decided to go for a walk. We didn't really know where we were going, we just walked. Finally, about 9:30 came and we realized we had no idea where we were.

"Close your eyes until I say you can open them." Ikuto said, looking dead serious. _OH GOD!_ I thought. It hit me I was alone with a stranger in the dark and he now wanted me to close my eyes. I wanted to run. I wished I had mace. I wished I'd been more careful. I think he saw the fear on my face.

"Alright, you don't have to close your eyes." He stepped back a ways, looking at the ground. After he stopped, he looked up, and I swear I saw an evil glint in his eye. However, I was gladly wrong on what I thought it was. I think.

He zoomed up. In one great leap, he was on the top of a nearby building. I had no idea what to do. I felt my head get numb. Or was that my knees? Either way, I know that after five seconds of him reaching the roof, I was out. I woke up in my hotel room with ice on my head.

"Odelle!" cried Susie. She sure said that an awful lot today. "O my gosh, what happened?!"

"grah…" My head was killing me. I must have hit the asphalt. I looked over and saw Ikuto not too far away. I screamed and started towards the corner of the room. "H-h-him! He….he….zooom and I was like ahhh and then I was like plop!" It wasn't until after I said it I realized I sounded insane.

"I don't have a clue what she's talking about." He said in defense.

"It's okay, we don't know either." Her mom said. I still sat there shaking in the corner. "I'm so sorry, Ikuto, you're scaring the girl half to death right now just being here. Could you please leave?"

"Of course, it's no problem. Tell me when she gets better."

"Of course, Ikuto. Have a nice night."

"You, too. Good night Susie, Odelle." He gave me a small wink. I wasn't sure if I was more afraid with him gone or in here.

Susie told me to go to sleep and tell her what happened in the morning. By the time everyone else was getting up though, I was finally getting to sleep. I'd been shaking all night and nervous as anything. I figured out what I was going to say, though.

"Y-you know me, so you know I'm insane, but not technically a mental disorder insane, right?"

I tried to sound convincing as if nothing was wrong with me right now. Susie just nodded, knowing I was usually pretty hard to scare, except with insects and other things like that.

"Ikuto and I got lost, then he told me to close my eyes. Of course, I totally was like 'nuh uh! No way!' So he was like 'okay, fine you don't need to.' Then he stepped back some, head down. Then he lifted his head and had an evil glint. That's when he jumped up in the biggest leap I've ever seen! He got to the top of a nearby building that was at least two stories! Even one story in one leap is freaky! My mind couldn't take it, so I was just like….well…plop. Knocked out cold."

Susie gave me the biggest 'Holy crap, you need a doctor for mental disorders' look I've ever seen. I guess I couldn't blame her, but it still hurt. She then wiped it off.

"I believe you." She had to take a breath. "It seems completely impossible, but I believe you. Why? You are not the kind of person who could just make that up." I gave a huge sigh of relief.

"Thank you. Now, I didn't sleep at all last night. Wake me up at eleven!" She laughed at me and let me sleep.

At noon, we decided to go get lunch in the hotel's café. It was very peaceful until Ikuto walked into the lobby.

"Oh sh-" Susie started. I grabbed her head and bobbed her down. We could barely see Ikuto's legs from under the table, but we saw undoubtedly him walk towards the café; specifically, to our table.

"You do know I can still see you, right?" Susie and I both winced and we came back up.

"H-hey, Ikuto. D-didn't see you there." I tried to sound convincing, but it didn't work at all.

"Sure. Look, I'm assuming you told her?" I nodded to him. He lowered voice when saying. "I told you to close your eyes, but obviously you didn't have enough faith in me. Those with no trust end up hurt." He mumbled quietly to himself, but I still barely understood him. "They always do."

"Huh?"

"Nothing. Anyway, I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to speak to me again, but just in case." He pulled out a slip of paper with a phone number on it, and then slowly turned away. I felt kind of embarrassed, like the enemy almost.

"Thanks." is all I could say. I tried giving him a smile, but when he turned to look at me and we made eye contact, I flashed-back to that look he gave before jumping up to the building's roof. There was a sudden impulse, and before I knew it, I opened my mouth.

"Wait!" I stood up. I don't know why, I just needed to know one more thing. "What was with the look from last night?" He walked back, a confused look on his face. "The look, right before…" I didn't want to say it again. It was hard enough the first time, just saying to my best friend.

"I don't know. I always feel a sense of power and ability when I character change." He smiled like it was a fond memory, but I just looked at him confused.

"Character change?" I asked, almost afraid to know the answer.

He looked at me, with a slightly different evil glint, but still evil. He put his pointer finger and thumb under my jaw, and rested his middle finger on my chin. After that, he put an arm around my waist, pulling me closer. "If you dare to follow me, I'll tell you." There was never a quiver in his voice, or the slightest pause in actions. I felt something quiver fiercely inside my stomach and my senses pause though. My gut was telling me not to go. Sadly, curiosity won. Hopefully, this time it won't kill the cat.

Susie decided to go with her parents to the mall while I walked with Ikuto. I had no clue what in the world could happen. Luckily, I had my mace with me this time. I would have had a knife or gun, but since I was in a foreign country, I went with this. We got to the park and went to a bench where there was almost no one around. We sat and Ikuto explained everything to me; about the heart eggs, guardian characters, Yoru (his guardian character). He explained about character transformations and character changes. He said anyone can see a transformation but only other people with characters can see changes.

"It's funny though," He started, but then looked down at me. "When we first met, it was like every stranger danger rule you tried to use, but Susie and I made you push a few aside. Now, though, you would have had every right in the world to have said no to me in the café, but you came anyway. You did a character change without a guardian character." He smiled. It wasn't like the anything he'd ever smiled at me before. This one said nothing but thank you. I couldn't help but smile back. Everything he'd said hadn't fully sunk in, but I couldn't wait for it to.

Out of the blue, he stood up and held out his hand. "C'mon."

"Where are we going?" I said, hesitant to stick my hand out.

"As the most amazing person ever, I am going to take you into the forest and show you my transformation, so you can get an idea of how I look when I character change." He smiled, thinking it was the most brilliant idea ever. I took his hand, not because I thought it wise, but because I was learning to trust him. Something I needed to do more often for other people.

He led me on, until there were no more sounds from anyone else. No one could hear us either. Ikuto let go of my hand, then stepped backwards. Without another word, there was a bright flash of light and he stood before me; a cropped shirt that went three inches above the belly button, showing his six-pack. It had tails like a tuxedo, with a cat tail below them. He had cat ears on top of his head, and tight navy pants. The thing that freaked me out the most, however, was on his right hand there were three metal claws, like the wolverine, but not in his skin. They were strapped on. He crossed his arms and looked at me, obviously amused.

"How do I look?" He was really good and making a good freak out. I couldn't say anything as I walked up to him. I lightly touched the side of the blades so I wouldn't get cut if they were real. After that, I reached up and pet his cat ears. He started chuckling quietly to himself. This was probably his favorite game to play. He uncrossed his arm and then put them around me. I instantly realized I was being hugged by a guy with ears, claws, a tail, and barely a shirt. My second realization was that I had my hands on his chest. To think, I thought I turned red with the first realization.

"So, does this freak you out enough, or do I have to take you to the final step tomorrow?" My fingers curled in. Every good sense I had was saying that I should run, but there was still something in me that said _go_. I went with that tiny feeling.

"I… I… I…" Okay, maybe realistically I wasn't sure, but I'm a people pleaser. "Yes." I let out a sigh of relief after I said it. I felt Ikuto's hug loosen a bit. I could feel he was shocked by my answer.

"Would you rather it be today or tomorrow?" he asked. I decided to let it get over with.

We moved to an area still far from people, but far more open. Ikuto no longer was transformed, but I could tell by his expression he was in his character change. He now told me to stand one meter away, since obviously Japanese people use the metric system. I did as told and mentally started writing my will.

"Don't worry, Del. I'll be gentler with you than most of my friends without characters since you're a delicate girl."

"Oh, yay. That makes this sound so much better." I let out a fake laugh, and he just shook his head smiling.

"When I raise my hand, you'll know it's beginning." I nodded in understanding.

A few seconds later, he lifted his hand then held it straight in front of him. All of the sudden I was being pushed back, to the side, and then the other side. I looked and he was doing this by just slightly moving his wrist. Finally, he held it straight towards me. I braced for impact, but right before it got to me, he made his hand do a slight curving motion. I felt something go around my waist. He then pulled me towards him at a rapid speed. Again, I braced myself for impact. Also again, my hands ended up on his chest. He started laughing uncontrollably, and I had no idea why.

"What the fricken heck is so funny?" I said breathily. He had to take a few seconds to stop laughing.

"Just you. I don't why, but this game is far more amusing with you." He continued laughing while hugging me, which totally ticked me off.

I pushed away, anger written all over me, and I could tell Ikuto knew this was not going to be good for him. "A game?! I wasn't sure several times if you were going to kill me or not! And I've only known you two days! I don't know what kind of 'games' you play, but if you consider this one, it is seriously sick!" When I started stomping off, he reached for my hand.

"I'm sorry. I didn't think of it like that." He gave me that charming look again, only more so making me pull away. I looked away, not wanting him to see my face as I spoke.

"Just, don't do it again?" I could feel my cheeks getting hotter, and although he didn't say anything for a few seconds, I could tell Ikuto was smiling.

"C'mon, let's celebrate." He picked me up and put me into a princess hold.

"First, where are we going?! Second, put me down, now!"

"It's a surprise, and me carrying you is the only way to get there. Hold on tight." He smiled and made a huge leap over the trees and bushes. We landed on a building about 150 yards away by my guess. This was still the weirdest part to me, so of course, I wanted to hurl. Instead I just grabbed him tighter and buried my head into his chest so I wouldn't see anything. I could feel his heart pound faster when I did, or he might just be getting tired. It could also have been both, though. Who knows?

Finally, after about five minutes or so, Ikuto put me down on the ground. It took me a second to get it registered in my brain that I was on brick sidewalk and could let go. He chuckled at me a bit, as though he half expected it.

"I'm not sure how I feel about you, Ikuto; if I hate you or think you're the best thing ever."

"Maybe you think I'm the best thing ever so you hate me?" He stuck his tongue out at me and me at him. I don't remember why, but for some reason I felt like giving him a quick hug, so I reached up and did such. When I came back down, he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

"What, I can't choose to hug you?" I teased. He shock off the look from his face.

"No, sorry. I just was a little bit shocked, that's all. Anyway, look behind you and take a look at where we are." He smiled thinking there was no way I could dislike this, so I trusted and looked behind me. I couldn't believe my eyes.


	3. Museum, Confusion, & What the? Oh My!

Lily: Hi again! if you're up to this chapter...THANK YOU! This is my first fanfic, so I don't really expect a lot of people to rad this...so if you are reading this is really means a lot! :D

Ikuto: Oy, pathetic much?

Odelle: What is up with this side of you!

Ikuto: -snickers- Don't worry, you'll get to see this me more -winks-

Odelle: I DONT WANT TO SEE MORE OF THIS YOU! LILY SAY IT WONT BE SO!

Lily: ...sorry...I've kind of made him too charming these first few chapters...He's getting bad/himself now...

Odelle: wait wait wait...this is how he REALLY is?! This, this can't be...NOOOOOOO!

Ikuto: Relax will you? and no need to yell like that...ow...

Lily: Oy, you two...I don't own anything except some characters like Odelle and Susie! (also, I will maybe use 5 swear words total the entire book. I'm pretty clean when it comes to that ^^')

Chapter 3

"No way." Standing there before my eyes was the famous museum Musée du Louvre. I would walk in there and see hundreds of years' worth of history. A part of me was going weak-kneed just seeing it. What made it better was Ikuto then handed me a museum pass so I could go to the Mona Lisa without worry of not being able to see it. Something surged inside me and I grabbed Ikuto's hand and ran inside. There, a museum worker greeted us.

"Hello. I see you both have passes. Feel free to go on." She smiled, but I think it was her job to smile.

"Thank you so much." I said to her.

"No problem. Have a nice date." That hit me hard. I looked down only to realize Ikuto and I were holding hands, and we were walking into a famous museum in Paris. However, what was wrong with two people looking like they were on a date when they hadn't even known each other for two days? No one said it was against the law, right?

"Del, are you in there?" Ikuto whispered into my ear. I snapped back to reality and realized it'd probably been a few seconds of del-land.

"Yeah, sorry! I just, got distracted when she assumed this was a date." I felt kind of stupid now. It just seemed weird to me when people thought I was on a date with a guy when I've never actually been on one.

"It's really not too far off. I mean, I'm a guy, you're a girl," he raised up his left hand, taking my right with it. "we're holding hands in a museum in Paris."

I blushed and took my hand away, but right before I put it in my pocket, he grabbed it again. I didn't know what to think.

"So that way we don't get disconnected. Now c'mon." He took me to the exhibits and we just talked and looked in awe. It was all so beautiful; I couldn't bear to take my eyes away from all of it. Sadly, at about four o'clock Susie called him. I had given her the slip of paper with his number just in case.

"Odelle, is everything okay? Did he hurt you?" _Actually, yes. He pushed me around with some sort of Jedi magic trick._

"No, well, not really. It's nothing to bad. So, what'd you call about?"

"My parents. They think you need to come back to the hotel. They would like to meet Ikuto on better standards." I couldn't help but think _Oh god. Why did I come to Paris?_ That's when Ikuto took the phone back.

"We'll be there after we finish looking at all the exhibits, Su."

"Okay, bye, Ikuto, bye Odelle!" Then she hung up. Ikuto and I quickly finished the tour and walked back to my hotel. It had been about another hour. Susie's mom was surprisingly still waiting outside the door of our room.

"Hello ma'am. What can I do for you?"

"Look, I'm fun. I love letting young people enjoy each other's company; but I think you should slow down, now. You've known each other, what, two days?" I couldn't take Susie's mom anymore.

"Okay, what?"

"Aren't you two…together now?" I swear, if I'd had a drink, I would have done a spit take.

"Say WHAT?! We are not, no, no! I mean, he's awesome, but you know how I am!"

She looked like she no longer knew what was going on. "So you two don't like each other that way?"

"No!" I couldn't believe it. People have said they thought we were together twice today.

"Well then, you guys can go have fun! I'm sorry for this awkward meeting."

Ikuto decided to butt in. "It's alright ma'am. Thank you for being worried. It's very kind of you to be concerned for people who aren't actually your children." With that said, we left. I asked if we could just go to an empty place in the park and just relax a bit. He Ikuto didn't see a problem, so we went there. However, after we'd been sitting at a bench there for several minutes, he asked me something out of the blue.

"Have you given it more thought? I mean the not going back."

"I haven't really had time to." I had to tease him a bit before getting serious again. "Why do you ask?"

"A friend of mine is having a wedding in a few days; actually, the plane leaves tomorrow. I just got a call last night from him asking me to go. He said he'd do anything to get me there. I'd like you to go with me."

I didn't know what to say. I knew I wanted to say yes, but I knew I couldn't.

"I'm really really really sorry." I said wincing. "I think you should go alone. Besides, I doubt they'd want a stranger at their wedding." I gave him a semi-sweet smile, which he returned.

"I suppose you're right. It was worth a try though. Can I least see you again? After we're both gone from Paris?"

"I'd like that. Actually, during the summer I plan to stay with my cousins in Tokyo. Well, in their house. They won't be in it since they'll be flying from one country to the next. Anyway, if I fly away to say, Rome, they'll never know the difference." I gave him a small corner smile, but his was probably the biggest smile I've seen from him. He looked as though an angel had spoken to him that he was going to marry a girl he'd been in love with since a small child. Okay, maybe the smile wasn't huge, but it was the happiest smile I'd seen. I couldn't help but chuckle and he popped back to reality. Suddenly, he looked curiously at me.

"Why didn't the guy you fell for fall for you?" As soon as he said it, it me like a brick, or a boulder. I'd asked myself that almost every second I thought about him since the girl confessed and he said yes. I could feel my fingers grip onto the seat of the bench. Pain rushed through every inch of my soul and being. I felt hot tears stream down my face all because I knew but denied the possibility. However, I had to answer now. I had to say it out loud. Not for him, not for anyone all except for me.

"He didn't fall for me because I go by the books, and I'm a weak coward." Another sword went through me when I said it and I hid my face into my arms and lap.

"Tell me. What have you done since we met?" I slightly looked up. I no longer had that wide open mouth when crying. Now it was a shocked jaw-drop. "You've throw away the books. You took the curiosity and turned it into actions, making you brave. You've become one of the first five people to pass my test, which took absolute strength. You are like no girl I have ever met, person actually. I can't imagine you being anything you said you are." With that said, he started running his fingers throw my hair. I don't remember why, but I enjoyed it. I slowly came up, but I still slouched a lot and had my arms crossed close to my stomach. I was shaking an awful amount. Finally, I got my fists really tight, turned to Ikuto, and started clinging onto him. I didn't know what to say. I'd always thought myself a coward, because I normally didn't like talking to strangers, at all. I always thought myself a weak coward because I was afraid of what might happen if I didn't go by the books and cried a lot. Ikuto thought everything I said was wrong though. For the first time in my life, someone said that was wrong. At first I was crying of shame, but now I was crying in relief that someone didn't think such things about me.

After a few minutes of clinging on Ikuto, I let go and quickly wiped away the last couple of tears.

"S-sorry. Y-you're just the first person to say that I was none of those things I mentioned earlier." I smiled and pushed some bangs from my face that had fallen while I cried.

"It's fine. Here, you missed some hair." He pushed some hair behind my ear, and before we even knew what hit us, someone took a picture while his hand was by my ear.

"Porfoct! Theez'll be great for my photography scholarship to America!"

"Excuse me?! Photography scholarship?!" I said. I didn't know if I had mascara on my face, or anything! I could be red and puffy right now from all the crying! I didn't want my picture taken!

"Oi, oi! I can make le couple of queeck adjustmonts now…and here vwee are!" He showed me the most beautiful picture anyone has ever taken of me. Why couldn't he have gotten that where it doesn't look like I'm about to kiss someone who I have no interest in dating?

"You can't send that in, sir. That is misleading." Ikuto said standing up. He had a good four inches on the French pip-squeak, which is kind of sad because I'm a fourteen-year-old girl and Ikuto is and eighteen-year-old guy, and he only had maybe three inches on me. This means I too could probably take the Frenchy.

"Look, I don't want trouble!" cried the French-man. "I just want to get to an Ameereecon photography school!" I couldn't help but feel bad now. I stood up and turned Ikuto around. We came up with a fair agreement.

"Let's make a deal. You take one more picture of together, get two of this picture developed, bring it here in three hours, and you can use the picture. Deal?" Ikuto held his hand out. If the French guy disagreed, he lost his picture. If he agreed and then didn't follow through, Ikuto would hunt him down. The French man knew it too.

"D-deal! W-where do you want thee picshair?" I didn't have a clue, but Ikuto looked like he did. He put his arm around me and motioned the photographer to come. On the way to where ever we were going, I looked into a window. Thank god I'd decided to wear water-proof mascara. Well, water-proof mascara that _worked._

We arrived at the front lawn of the Eifel tower. There were bushes behind us and people of all sorts taking pictures and looking in awe. It was even more beautiful with the wonderful array of colors in the sky.

"Here. This is where the picture will be taken." Ikuto seemed pretty pleased with the sight. I felt like we would still look like a couple.

"Alright. Well, pose how you'd like." We did as the obnoxious photographer said. Ikuto put his arm over my shoulders, and I around his waist. After the picture, the photographer showed us the picture and it was perfect. I was also gladly wrong about the background making us look like an item.

"It's perfect!" I said. I sighed and hugged the photographer. "Thank you." When I backed up, I saw him blushing. He then quickly smiled and nodded his head as goodbye.

"Don't I get a hug too for picking the scenery?" Ikuto teased. I chuckled and gave him a hug. The only problem was, when I tried letting go and backing up, he wasn't agreeing to that plan.

"I-Ikuto, you can let go now." I tried getting away again.

"Not yet." He finally replied. Great.

"Ikuto, seriously. This is not funny." People started staring and started to get even redder. As I got redder, I got more frantic in my pushing. I heard Ikuto do a single breathy chuckle, meaning he probably had an evil thought; which he did. He pushed me down onto the grass, with him on top.

"Boo." He said while laughing like this was genius.

"Wh-what the heck are you doing?!" I would have squirmed out by now if he hadn't hand his hands in mine, locking me on the ground.

"Just having a bit of fun." he teased. I was about to pumble him.

"You have ten seconds to get off of me." He could tell I was serious.

"Fine." He sat up, but pulled me onto his lap, putting his arms around me waist. "Better?"

"No this is not better! Now let me go you…you…you pervert!" I wanted to pick a different word, but that's the only one that fit that I knew of.

"Tell me, what have I done that's considered perverted?" He was playing me like a deck of cards. Luckily, I'm not a queen; I'm mean. I jabbed him in the stomach with my elbow, making him let go. I got up as fast as I could.

"Sorry. I warned you." I tried smiling at him "sorry". He just winced in pain more.

"It's okay. I…deserved it." He winced some more. I couldn't help but feel really bad now. When he stopped being in a fetal position holding his stomach, I held my hand out and helped him up.

"Thanks. What do we do now?"

"Dinner. My treat." I winked at him and we walked on.

Ikuto: Wow odelle, you have a very pointy elbow...

Odelle: why thank you, thank you very much. -winks-

Lily: haha, glad you guys are mostly done arguing.

Odelle: Yup! -to viewers- Please leave a reply!


	4. Parting with Paris, Beginning of Better

Lily: Hey guys! Okay, there won't be another chapter for a while. Just thought I'd tell you now. End of semester soon, so It'll be a lot of...algebra T.T (HATE math. With a burning passion.) Anyway, so yeah. Also, this chapter is kind of short, but REALLY important, so bare with me.

Ikuto: Oy, stop apologizing so much.

Odelle: Be nice, Ikuto! Anyways, Lily doesn't own much! just some of the characters like Susie, Jake, and I!

Chapter 4

After dinner it was getting pretty late. Well, it was only about 7:30, but when you're in a foreign country with someone you barely know, that's kind of late. I didn't really care though, because Ikuto and I decided to go for a walk, and he had his arm over my shoulders. We stopped at a fountain and tossed a few coins in it before sitting down to relax. I accidentally got so relaxed I set my head down on his shoulder and closed my eyes. I had forgotten it was Ikuto and thought it was the guy I like back in America, Jake. Jake and I have sat together before and he had his arm around me, so I went back to that time. The moment I realized I liked him. I fell asleep on Ikuto's shoulder…

"Odelle…?" Ikuto tried. I didn't budge; at least, that's what he thought. I actually did start to wake up, but I didn't really open my eyes until I felt him peck me on top of my head. I felt my heart skip a beat, so I then pretended that woke me up.

"Uhhhg…?" I faked like I just woke up. I forced a blush on face as well, since it was a part of my character. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry! Wait, what time is it? Oh no…" I was good at fake freaking out.

"It's alright, and it's getting close to 8:30." He just smiled at me, well, smirked. I couldn't help but smile back at him. I still had a dash of pink on my cheeks. We then just started talking, leading to what our home is like, our friends, just silly little simple things like that.

"So tell me; what's the girl you love like?" I couldn't hold the question back anymore. He looked at me a puzzled. Luckily he soon relaxed a bit.

"Amu is stubborn; very very stubborn. However, she is also kind and caring. Her outer character refuses her too, though. You see, she has her real self, then the outer self. Gosh, I can't really describe her." He seemed like he really liked this girl. I couldn't help but wonder why she wouldn't feel the same. Even though I wanted to ask, I found it'd be rude.

"She's lucky someone like you cares a lot about her." I gave him a proud smile. Few guys care about someone like he cares about her. He reminded me a lot of Jake, the guy I like.

"Thank you. So what about your guy? What's he like?" I suppose I should have seen it coming.

"He's kind, gentle, and loving. He's the kind of guy who would stand up for a complete stranger if they were in trouble. I guess you could say he's Prince Charming." I did a quick giggle to myself. "Maybe that's why…" I gently shook my head feeling stupid for not realizing it.

"That's why what?"

"Oh, nothing. I think I just found another reason for him not to like me the way I like him."

"Okay. Now tell me what it is so I can tell you how stupid that is and why it's wrong." He was teasing of course, so I stuck my tongue out at him.

"How do I put it..? I'm not a princess. I'm the kind of girl who goes and makes fun of cheerleaders like '1, 2, 3, and 4! You're so annoying, cheer no more!' Or I'll go and wrestle with my brother in the middle of the school yard and not care who watches. Stuff like that. I suppose I just don't care what people think of me as long as I have my group, making me more independent."

"So, you think he didn't fall for you because you're not a princess?"

"Yup."

"He's an idiot then, if that's why he didn't. Princess-like girls are no fun at all." He lightly pushed me with his shoulder, and I back at him.

"After the wedding, how would you like to join me on my trip?" he asked out of the blue. I paused for a moment trying to get my mind to compute.

"Okay, repeat that?" It wasn't clicking yet. He repeated and finally it did.

"Okay, you want me to go with you on a world-wide trip, just us two? Even though we've only known each other two days?" Now I had to wrap my mind around what the heck he might be thinking or if he was.

"Well, when I go back for the wedding, I'll also be signing up to go with the orchestra my dad was in. In a way we wouldn't really be alone." He made it sound so simple and not weird at all.

"Alright. Well, I'm definitely flying back to America. I realized I needed a bit more stuff that I have on me. I'll think about it for a few days, then I'll call you after three days of returning home with m decision. Deal?"

"Deal." We shook hands on it and I am now actually thinking about going on a world tour with the perfect stranger. Weirdest love story beginning… probably ever.

Ikuto: Okay, I could get used to thi.

...

Ikuto: Hello?

Lily: -Runs up to him- sorry, about to be killed by a furious Odelle!

Odelle: I THOUGHT THAT WAS AGAINST YOUR MORALS! YOU LIAR! -chases after Lily-

Lily: Oh crap! Ikuto! do the honors! -runs-

Ikuto: Please leave a review! They are always welcomed!


	5. Welcome to Tokyo!

Lily: Hey guys! Sorry it's been so so SO long since I've updated! Or..at least..it's felt like that to me! ha ha! Anyway! there's going to be a lot more shugo chara peoples coming in this chapter, but I'm planning on their town only being, like, a two chapter thing. (BTW I'm making their town be Tokyo since I don't know if they have an actualy town, and if they do, I don't know it! sorry if peach-pit did say what town it is!)

Ikuto: -fake snore sounds-

Lily: Odelle. Get the squirt bottle. He's being rude again.

Odelle: I'm on it.

Ikuto: Whatever. -get's squirt in the face- GAH! that was so not cute, you know!

-both girls chuckle-

Ikuto: Oy. Well, at least Lily doesn't own any of the Shugo Chara stuff...

Chapter 5

It's been so weird not seeing Ikuto every day now. It's like I don't have near as much to look forward to anymore. It's kind of pathetic. This has even gotten to the point where I'm writing a song about it.

_"One day passed I'm through the door. Wishin' there was somethin' more. Another adventure, dinner for two. Guess I just miss seein' you. Two days passed lookin' out my window. Hopin' that soon you will show. But I guess that I'm just outa luck. You and I, we're kind of stuck._

_No one's coming back, we ain't goin' forward. But I'll keep waiting at my back door. Maybe someday, maybe somehow. Oh who am I kidding, not til I get the fat cow!"_

I needed to work on the last line a bit… _Wait! I was supposed to call him today and tell him if I'll join him!_ Those wonderful things you realize at the last minute.

"Mom! Dad!"

"Yes honey?" Mom always replied first.

"Huh, yeah?" Next was dad.

"I'd like to do a world tour. A friend of mine is looking for their dad, and they're going all around the world searching. They want me to go with them."

They both looked puzzled at me.

"This is a joke, right?" my dad more stated than asked. Thank the Lord for mothers.

"I think she can do it. I say we let her." My mom was convinced. My parents had a short parental discussion, but I couldn't hear what they said.

"Fine. When would you leave?" Dad had been defeated. Go team mom!

"I don't know all the details. I'll tell you when I call him." Sadly, I said him, not them. Luckily, I was speaking fast.

"_Him_?" This was one of those _Aw crap_ moments where you have to think…and FAST!

"No, I said them. Anyway, I got to get packing! Bye!" I rushed down the stairs to my bedroom and got to packing while calling Ikuto.

"_Hello_?" said the most wonderful Japanese boy's voice.

"Hey! It's me, Odelle!" I was about to yell his name, but my parents would kill me and say no go.

"_Odelle! How are things for you? Are you coming?_"

"Sorry, I already have another once-in-a-lifetime world-tour opportunity I'm going to. It just so happens I'll be heading to all the same places as you though…" I had to tease him. What fun would be other-wise?

"_Oh yes. Boo hoo."_ He's such a smart boy playing along.

"Yeah. So when should I fly over to Tokyo?"

"_How about the nearest flight there? Also, I'll pay for the ticket. Don't you worry."_ He is such a sweet guy! What other guy would do that? I sure don't know any!

"Sounds good! Well, I got to go. Text this number your email so I can send you a ticket link when I'm done packing."

_"That works. See ya soon!"_ –click- Now to finish packing! After I finish that song…

_"Maybe someday, maybe somehow. Oh who am I kidding, not til I'm in the ground."_ That's much better. I'm so happy though since now it's not true!

I finished packing at about five and then started looking for flights to Tokyo. There was a ticket left for a flight that leaves in six hours, but that was too soon. The only good part was that it was a straight trip. I though this before saw that the next would end up being nearly a twenty-four hour trip. Suddenly, the plane that leaves in six hours sounds awesome. I sent the link to the email Ikuto sent me and got a pretty good reply.

_"You do realize this plane leaves in six hours, right? Wait…oh. That's the other choices. I'll see you in twelve-ish hours!"_ I couldn't help but laugh. I couldn't wait to see him.

Once my parents got me to the plane, we said our last few goodbyes and I went off. The flight went alright, but it could have been so much better. Of course, I am the kind of person who can't stand the bumpiness of landing, so that didn't help. I did however love seeing Tokyo Tower from the sky. It was so bright since it was still dark, but the sun was rising a bit, making it look like late sunset. I looked around me and about half of the people on the plane were sleeping. I also noticed I was one of few white people because the majority on the plane was Asian. I probably looked like a weird tourist. I mean, it wasn't exactly a lie, but it wasn't fully the truth either. I don't know. At the time I was thinking this is was really early and I hadn't gotten to sleep yet.

Once I got off the plane I went to get my bags. I had almost completely unique bags, so it would be easy to spot. Well, the almost completely unique is a bit of a stretch. There are probably about 100 to 1,000 more like it in the U.S.A., but it's nearly impossible somebody will be using it at the same time as me. This is why when I saw a hand grabbing the same bag I was reaching for on the belt, I was a bit confused.

"Excuse me, I think you have the wrong bag." I nicely said, of course, in Japanese. I looked behind me to see a red-headed boy with pierced ears and messy hair handing my bag, again.

"Odelle I believe?" He gave me a cute smile. He looked just about my age, but I couldn't be sure. Since he was Japanese, he was just barely shorter than me. However, he was proportioned right, so if he were in a picture, I'd think he was at least two or three inches taller. _Oh, wait a second!_

"Um, yes. Who might you be?" I'd forgotten to reply for a second.

"The names Kukai. I'm a friend of Ikuto's. I'm going to take you to his house where you'll stay in his sister's room for the rest of the time here." He acted as though everything was normal. I however looked at him like he was insane. He didn't look near old enough to drive! I also looked out the window of the plane and there couldn't be a house within twenty miles of here!

"I think there must be a mistake. Is Ikuto a common name here and could there maybe be a different Odelle you're looking for? My Ikuto would know not to make a girl walk at five A.M. with practically a stranger for about twenty miles." I did my best to make myself clear, but he just laughed.

"Don't worry. My transformation gives me a rocket-scooter thing. All you have to do is trust me and my directions." He grabbed my hand quickly and started running with me through the airport. I'm sorry. Did I say _running with me_? I meant _dragging me behind_. I felt like such a freak getting dragged by a red-headed Japanese boy half an inch shorter than me. Finally, we reached the exiting doors was able to properly breath again.

"What the bloody…" I said in English. Kuki looked at me confused. I went back to speaking Japanese.

"Sorry, I went back to speaking my first language for a second. Now tell me what the heck that was!" I was ready to strangle him.

"Sorry. Ikuto had told me to get you to his house as soon as possible. He said you'd be sleepy and needing rest after more than likely not sleeping all day.

"Alright. Then get us to Ikuto's." I said super breathily. Kukai did a character transformation into Sky Jack, but me into a bridal hold, and then slid the shoulder-strap of my bag around his lower arm. Before taking off and getting us about fifty feet above the earth.

"W-w-what the heck are you doing?!" I finally managed to say after about a minute into the ride.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting you to Ikuto's." He sounded the calm. I had to bury my face into his chest to keep from going into shock. I did not do these sorts of heights. I heard him chuckle but I was too scared to do anything about it.

Eventually we got to Ikuto's house and I him waiting outside on his roof sleeping. Kukai dropped me off right by him. Ikuto didn't react a bit when I got off. I looked to Kukai who motioned me to be quiet before waving goodbye and leaving. I gently put my bag onto Ikuto's porch then snuggled up next to him and fell asleep. Until about ten A.M. we were like this.

"Uh? What is..? Odelle?" He said it also so groggily I chuckled a bit at him.

"Yo, Ikuto." I smiled. His eyes grew wide before he embraced me in a hug.

"Hey, it's only been four days. Calm down." I laughed while saying. We got off the roof and he put my bag in his sister, Utau's, room. When we got downstairs I met his step-father, mother, and Utau. She and I clicked pretty instantly, but I couldn't feel like here was something about her name that I had heard before. I just ignored that for now, though.

"C'mon, Del. Allow me to show you around Tokyo. Also, we're meeting some of my friends for lunch at two. Don't worry, Utau will be there too." He winked at me and then we left. He showed me around the different parks they have in Tokyo and showed me all sorts of shops. Finally, we ended up at Tokyo tower, after exploring at least half the town for touring.

"So, did you have fun touring?" Ikuto said smirking.

"No. It was all a big dull." I stated sarcastically. We both laughed a bit before he continued.

"Well, if you'd like, we could have a bit more fun." He started to put his arm around my waist and pull me close. My natural response of course was grabbing his arm, stepping away, twisting his arm, and lastly pressing his against the railing.

"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" I yelled in English. My mind had temporarily gone back to America where a pretty face also needs to protect her.

"Oy! I was trying to pull a joke! Let go! Ow! Please!" I did as he asked, but not happily.

"First that stunt in Paris and now this? I'm starting to wonder what I'm getting into!" I leaned into the rail next to him, anger in deep in my expression.

"Don't worry, my bark is worse than my bite." He winked at me and I lightly shoved him. We heard a clock ding two and headed off the café we would be eating at.

When we arrived, I looked around at all the empty tables. There was only one table in there with people in it. There was a girl with bright pink hair and golden eyes. There was also a guy with golden hair and bright pink eyes. _Siblings maybe?_ Next to Blondie was Kukai. Utau wasn't here yet. I think it was a girl with purple hair and brown eyes sitting next to another girl with long curly blond hair and brown eyes. Lastly, there was a younger looking girl with short, light brown hair and brown eyes.

"I assume that's them?" I questioned. He seemed far older than any of them. Heck, other than Kukai, I did too!

"Yup, now. This is Amu, Tadase, Nagihiko, Rima, and lastly, Yaya. Oh, and you already know Kukai." I nodded my head towards them.

"So you're only friends with two guys?" I whispered to him in English so they wouldn't understand.

"Nagihiko's a guy." He said, obviously forcing himself not to laugh. Well, this was going to be fun.

Ikuto: Odelle! How could you think Nagi was a girl?!

Odelle: Well...in the actually he started off as a girl named nadeshiko...it's not too bad...

Ikuto: -continues laughing harder and harder-

Lily: -whispers to Odelle- here. -hands her a bucket of salt water-

Odelle: -Dumps it on ikuto- Be quiet!

Ikuto! Gah! You two are so mean and..uck. what is...is this salt water?!

-the girls snicker-

Ikuto: haha! Erg, the viewers better leave a review!

Lily: hint hint! ;)


	6. Cafe fun and love talk

**Lily: Hey you guys! So so so so so so soooo sorry it's taken so long to get this chapter out! Now, this is going to sound so bizarre since I have a total of NINETY-TWO views (from 9 countries! Thank you American, Panamanian, United Kingdom-ian?, Frenche, Australian, Singaporean, Portugese, Swedish, and Indonesian fans! *plus whoever might see this from anywhere else! that just happens to be the people so far XD*) So yes, I'm excited I've gotten so many many views from so many many awesome people! Now, do you want to know what would make me more excited? Reviews! I've had almost 100 views but no reviews! Please please please leave one! (yes, im begging! that's how badly I want reviews!) So yes, please and thank you ^^**

**Odelle: That's very good begging, Lily. Nice job.**

**Ikuto: That was exactly what I would say! maybe I'm rubbing off on you. -smirk-**

**Odelle: N-no! D-don't even th-think y-you could r-rub off o-on me!**

**Lily: Oy, guys. Anyway, I don't own anything Shugo Chara! I basically just own Odelle at this point ^^'**

Chapter 6

"It's a pleasure meeting you all." I smiled politely. Ikuto took a seat next to Amu, who blushed when he did. It dawned on me Amu was the name of the girl Ikuto liked. I sat next to Ikuto since he was the only person I knew besides Kukai. Everyone got to talking and I found out Tadase is Amu's boyfriend-like person. Nagihiko has a twin named Nadeshiko. Nagihiko also has a crush on Rima. (Actually, I found that out through actions, not words.) Yaya is bigger on sweets and cute things than _me_. Then, lastly, Kukai is a sports fanatic. Within the hour we arrived, I was already talking to them like I'd known them my entire life, which was weird for me since I'm usually pretty shy.

"Yo." I heard someone say from behind me. I looked back to see a boy with green hair who looked about Amu's age, a blond kid who looked like he could be Tadase's little brother, and the most adorable little girl with short, spikey, high, light brown pony-tails. They came over and sat with us and I found out green-head was Kairi and actually a year younger than Yaya. The blond kid is Ikuto's Step-nephew Hikaru. Then the adorable little girl was Rikka. We kept on talking and talking and I after about half an hour I remembered I hadn't eaten since yesterday except for a banana nut muffin. I got up and Ikuto did as well for some reason.

"I'll pay, no worries." He said as we walked to the counter.

"I have money; you just bought me a ticket here; you're not paying." I stated clearly. He didn't listen though so I had no choice but to let him pay. I just got a little salad and a bottle of water to eat and drink. I didn't want to get too much since I was paying and I didn't want to seem like a pig. Finally at about two-forty-five Utau walked in and took the seat next to me.

"Sorry I'm late. I had a quick photo-shoot that started at one." Everyone seemed calm about this statement as though it were normal. I just looked at her like she was insane.

"Okay, say what?"

"My photo-shoot…I'm a singer… Don't they have my music in America too?" She sounded like _I_ was the insane one now. I looked to Ikuto, showing my obvious mass confusion.

"She's Hoshina Utau, the world famous singer." He sounded so calm when saying this. It finally hit me who she was.

"So that's where I've heard your name before! I apologize for not realizing it sooner." I gave a mildly awkward smile, but mostly "ha ha, sorry." Everyone just chuckled a bit, making me feel better.

Kukai decided to use this as an opportunity to get burned. "I guess I can see why you wouldn't automatically think her to be famous. She's too nice, though when you get to know her, she's also stubborn." Everyone did a small chuckle, except for Utau.

"At least I'm not a kid always thinking about sports and games." When Utau said this, we all went silent. I felt like I was going to throw up from all the tension. "Of course, it is such a kid-like thing to think about, huh? So I suppose it fits. It also has a catchy ring to it. Kukai the kid."

"And there's three." Kukai said getting up. He took Utau's hand and I think I saw her eyes get a bit happier, though they were forcing madness in there as well.

"I-I-I f-forgot!" She faked trying to get free.

"Too late." Kukai said right before giving her a kiss. I looked around and everyone was shocked. Well, Ikuto was shocked and ticked, but he is the older brother.

"Kukai! What the heck are you thinking?!" Ikuto stood up but Amu and I each grabbed a hand and pulled him back down.

"Calm down, Ikuto. You should have expected this for a while now." Amu tried to reason with him, and I could tell he was now forcing himself not to push her and me off so he could kill Kukai. I looked to Tadase who just kept staring at Ikuto and Au's hands as Amu didn't let go yet. I held back a laugh at his Jealousy.

"Kukai, Utau, we suggest you go now before even Amu can't hold back Ikuto." Nagihiko and Rima stated. The lovely couple did as told, and another silence fell upon all of us. I decided I was going to get to know Amu a bit more, so I can be sure I approve. I realized I could also have fun with Rima.

"C'mon Amu, Rima. We should go and get to know each other better." I grabbed their hands and dragged them out of the café.

After a few hours of walking and talking, I decided it was time to ask them the question that's been on my mind.

"Is this stupid of me? You know, going on a world tour with Ikuto." I looked at the ground as I walked, and neither spoke up for a while.

Finally, Rima answered. "I find it unwise, but not stupid. You're a young girl looking adventure, and he just so happened to be knocking at your door. The opportunity was too big to pass up. I might have done the same if I were you." She smiled at me and I felt more at ease with my decision, I looked over to Amu who looked a bit spaced.

"Is she alright?"

Rima nodded. "Yes. She started to miss him before he got here, even though she didn't realize it. She and Ikuto have been through a lot so she unknowingly wants to be in the same place as you so they can be through even more."

After a bit, Amu popped back to reality. "Oh, sorry! I was trying to think of a good answer. I guess I'd be too scared to do it, but you seem strong, so it'll be good for you. Although, I'd be careful; he can sometimes get a bit…"

"Perverted? I know. I've seen it twice already."

"Okay, I just thought I'd be sure you knew. He was being so nice and not very Ikuto-like in the café."

"He probably needs to warm up to you." Rima continued. I was getting scared now, so I decided to change the subject.

"So Rima, what's up with you and Nagi?"

"N-nothing's up! W-we're j-just friends!" Amu and I looked at each other, then back down to Rima.

"Okay, fine. I think I like him and he likes me… but nothing more than liking each other. Sadly, he leaves for dancing stuff in a couple of days." She had a sad look on her face, but it lit back really soon. "So you now know that Amu and Tadase are together and Nagihiko and I practically are. Who are you with?" Amu and Rima both looked excited.

"Honestly, I have no guy in my life right now. I mean, I do, but he likes another girl. I'm happy he has someone, though. Plus, the girl he's with is really nice and caring and loves him back. I'm happy for them." I looked down so my hair would cover my face as a tear rolled soon as it dried up, I looked back up with a huge smile on my face.

"C'mon, I'll race you guys to the center of the park!" With that, we ran off. I was ahead the entire time, so I didn't fake any sort of smile or hold back any tears.

**Odelle: Aw, don't remind me of Jake T.T**

**Ikuto: Hey, you have better now. Relax.**

**Odelle: LILY WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!**

**Ikuto: Thanks -_-**

**...**

**Odelle and Ikuto: Lily?**

**Lily: I'm hiding so I won't have to tell the fans it'll be another good while before I can upload a new chapter.**

**Odelle: You do realize they're listening, right?**

**Lily: What? Oh um...hi guys! wait...you're listening...STALKERS! Jk, jk. Anyway, again, please leave a review!**


	7. Feelings put into Karaoke

Lily: Hey guys! thanks for coming to this chapter! I can't believe I have so many viewers! :D Oh, I'd like to thank a Ms. Luna for leaving the first review! It was really sweet of her and made me feel like I wasn't writing to a wall xD so yup, thank you!

Odelle: Isn't this supposed to be a super huge chapter?

Lily: Yes, yes it is! It talks a lot about the feelings between everyone and just some things people may not have noticed in the show. I hope you all enjoy! :D (and, I don't own and shugo chara stuff still xD)

(quick recap:

"C'mon, I'll race you guys to the center of the park!" With that, we ran off. I was ahead the entire time, so I didn't fake any sort of smile or hold back any tears.)

I guess I was running too fast since it took them about two more minutes to reach the center.

"H-how d-do y-you r-run so f-fast!" Amu said in a breathy voice trying to get her breathing to calm.

"It, it really, c-can't be natural." Rima continued. I couldn't help but laugh a little bit, and then soon enough, we all started cracking up. It took us about two minutes to regain our composure. We checked the time and it was getting close to six o'clock, making Rima look worried.

"Oh dear. I need to be getting home before it gets dark, or else my parents will worry and get angry with me." With that said, we did out goodbyes and she left. It seemed a bit awkward now, since Amu probably wanted to be in my place, and I honestly had no idea what the heck I was getting into, even though she probably would know. That when I looked over and saw a karaoke place for 12-18 year olds. I pointed it out to Amu and we agreed it sounded like a good idea. We called everyone and asked if they'd come, which they all said yes. By 6:30, we were all in the center of the park heading over to do karaoke.

"So remind me again why we're doing karaoke?" Ikuto asked while we walked over.

"Because it's fun. Besides, sometimes you can tell a lot about person through the music they choose to listen to and sing." I looked down when I said that. I didn't know why, but the biggest smile went across my face when I said it. I guess it was because half of what I learned about Jake was from just from his music.

When we got inside, there were several rooms for karaoke, and there was only one left. Thank goodness it wasn't reserved. We got in there and immediately we made a list of who would go when.

"I guess I could start us off." Utau said. Of course, this got Kukai really into the idea

"Yeah, I guess I could go after her." He tried to do the whole cool thing, and everyone just laughed. It so wasn't him.

"I'll go third." Ikuto said. Tadase said he'd go fourth, Amu fifth, Rima sixth, Nagi seventh, Yaya eighth (okay, we figured she was close enough to twelve, even though she was still only eleven.), and to finish it off, I'd be going ninth. After we each did a solo we'd check the time and see if we'd do group songs, but for now, this was the plan. Soon as the plan was set, Utau grabbed a microphone and picked a song. She didn't tell anyone what she was going to sing.

"Remember the feelings, remember the day. My stone heart was breaking, my love ran away. This moment I knew I would be someone else. My love turned around and I fell

So be my bad boy, be my man. Be my weekend lover, but don't be my friend. You can be my bad boy, but understand, that I don't need you in my life again." She kept on going and everyone just looked in shock she was singing "Bad Boy" by Cascada, especially Kukai. I started thinking trying to figure out how in anyway Kukai could be considered a bad boy, and when she was done, I still couldn't find any way. I started to chuckle, then grew into a full on laugh attack. No one had a clue why I was laughing, so I looked positively insane.

"S-sorry. I'm just laughing because in no way, shape or form, can I see Kukai as being a bad boy." It was kind of breathy since I was still laughing really hard. Soon enough, everyone else was joining in on the laugh. We finally stopped laughing and Kukai got up and picked his song. Like Utau, he didn't say anything about what he was singing.

"Check yes Juliet, are you with me? Rain is falling down on the sidewalk. I won't go until you go outside. Check yes Juliet, Kill the limbo. I'll keep tossing rocks at your window. There's no turning back for us tonight.

Lace up your shoes (Ay, oh, Ay oh.) Here's how we do. Run baby run, don't ever look back. They'll tear us apart if you give them the chance. Don't sell your heart, don't say we're not meant to be. Run baby run, forever will be…you and me." Kukai just kept rocking out with this song and everyone was dancing and having a good time. When he finished we all cheered and Utau ran up and hugged him. I looked at Ikuto who had the big-brother death glare going on to Kukai. I gave him a small shove and he quickly smiled again. It was his turn, and I honestly had no clue what to expect of him. However, I didn't expect the song he chose. That's right, he chose "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. He was surprisingly good, and all the girls were having a blast. The guys looked like they would hurl, though. I couldn't help but notice Ikuto always looked at Amu. It was sad to me that she went with Tadase even though an amazing guy like Ikuto had a huge thing for her and always thought about her.

"Well, c'mon Tadase!" Amu said with so much enthusiasm that I thought if she was more excited she'd sound like a squealing pig. I guess it was mild jealously thinking that, since she had a boyfriend who would probably be singing to her.

"uh-um. I-I'll be singing 'Beautiful Soul' by J-Jesse McCartney." It was actually kind of cute how he was blushing and stuttering. I was a bit surprised how well he did since he had been doing such. His voice was calm and clear and sounded like Jesse McCartney three years younger than when he sang that song. All the girls actually started jamming out to it. At least, until Ikuto asked me to dance (knowing Amu wouldn't agree), Nagi asked Rima to dance, and Kukai asked Utau to dance. It was more so fun-dancing while holding a guy's hands. Luckily Yaya was there so Amu and she could just have fun like when two girls are rocking out in their room. When Tadase finished, everyone congratulated him. I was still shocked at how well he did.

Amu went up got up and sang "Love Story" by Taylor Swift, which was pretty good for a twelve year old. I forget what Rima, Yaya, and Nagi each sang, but they were pretty good as well. I just remember realizing during their songs that I was going soon and I had no clue what to sing. It was kind of pathetic.

"Yo, Odelle. Your turn." Ikuto seemed like he really wanted to hear me and I just wanted to throw up. Feeling this, I nodded and looked at the options. I got to the last page when I realized Jake and I's song was in there. I lit up, started my song, and closed my eyes. It made me feel more in sync for some reason.

"I'd never gone with the wind, just let it flow. Let it take me where it wants to go. 'Til you opened the door. Then there's so much more. Never seen it before…" I opened my eyes only to see everyone shocked. I closed my eyes and continued to sing, wondering if they were shocked by me being or awesome or by me sucking. "You make me crazier, crazier. Feels like I'm fallin' and I, I'm lost in your eyes. You make me crazier, crazier, crazier." When I finished, I heard loud clapping, so I opened my eyes. Amu ran up and gave a huge hug and everybody was smiling. Well, everyone but Kukai and Utau who were softly kissing. I looked over to Ikuto who was proudly smiling and clapping. After the long day today, everyone headed home.

"Hey, Del. One last thing." Amu looked really happy and cheery. "W-would you like to come and spend the night with Rima, Utau, Yaya and I at my house? It'd be so much fun!" I looked back to Ikuto who nodded.

"Mhm! Sounds fun!" I gave her a hug goodbye and headed back to Ikuto.

"Well Amu seems to have taken a liking to you. I'm glad you two can be friends." Ikuto smiled down to me and I realized there was something in his eyes. I'd never seen it before, but I saw it now. Deep in them was a feeling of hurt and confusion. I felt tears weld up in my eyes and I hugged him. I hugged him super tightly and with all my heart. Utau was obviously confused and I could tell from the way Ikuto was hugging me he was as well. However, I didn't care. I just hugged him for almost a minute, not even thinking about explaining myself. After the minute was up, I let go and smiled through the tears. My expression was clearly saying that I'd explain later. With this being done and everything being said, we continued home. When we got home, I explained to him why I cried and hugged him.

"I can't believe you noticed that. No one else ever has other than Amu, and it took a lot to get her to realize it. I guess I just never vented to anyone growing up, and it all just built up in me so now I permanently have pain written in my eyes." He kept his semi-smile even though with every word I felt more like crying. I couldn't help but hug him again. We sat down on his bed and talked and by morning, I realized I accidently fell asleep by him. Even when I realized it, I just lay there, feeling like I finally knew about Ikuto. There was no mystery behind him; it was all an open book. It was good. I felt like I didn't really need to know more, it was all perfect.

Lily: So how'd you guys like it?

Ikuto: It was...actually pretty good.

Odelle: Aw, how nice of you to say Ikuto. Oh, and it was good Lily.

Lily: Thanks. And I agree, that was nice Ikuto. Why can't you be like this more often?

Ikuto: It's not part of who I am. At least sooner or later Odelle will realize this, fall for me and my charm, and we'll be happily married in however many years.

Odelle: M-MARRIED?! TO YOU?! NEVER!

Lily: Hey, if it makes for a good ending of the total story in however long it takes for me to finish this, it is possible...

Odelle: NOOOOOO! -sigh- please leave a review viewers...

Lily: Oh, and next chapter will be the view of ikuto, just thought I'd say incase it gets unclear. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

Odelle: Welcome back to The Perfect stranger! I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this and actually reading more than ch 1! Thank you for reading about my pathetic love life! Anyway, you'll find that this chapter is more of a hinting to future things than anything, but it's still kinda necessary so don't skip!

Ikuto: Would they other wise? I mean, Lily just wrote the new chapter after a week.

Odelle: it's not her fault...much. I mean, She's been writing down some of her dreams into a new book (at s/3099674/1/Survivor if you wanna read it)

Ikuto: speaking of Lily..where is she?

Odelle:She'll be here at the end. She was tired of being all excited and thrilled and grateful and then you just cutting her down to be eaten by crocodiles.

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning to see Odelle and I had fallen asleep next to each other on my bed. This would be very hard to explain if someone came in._ She's so warm, like Amu…_ I held her just a bit closer. I felt Odelle move a bit, so I shut my eyes, barely keeping them open, but she couldn't tell. She lifted her head up a bit. Her eyes grew when she realized where she was, but then softened back. She put her back to her original position, obviously trusting me. _Oh, sweet Odelle. Now I have to mess with you._ I brought me head down right next to her ear.

"You know, if you like this, we can be this way more often." I whispered. Her eyes grew and her cheeks became a burning red.

"N-n-no! Let me go, p-pervert!" she yelled quietly before wriggling out of my arms. She turned her back on me while I had a pretty good laugh.

"That so wasn't funny!" she yelled quietly again. This made it so much funnier.

"If you're going to be like this I just won't care if you're obviously hurting!" she said before leaving. I started feeling a bit bad about what I did and followed her out.

"Yo, I was just having a bit of fun. No need to get all up in a twist about it." Once I said it, I realized I said the wrong thing. I tried to make it clear that I realized that and it didn't come out right. She went back to her original ticked instead of the ticked that was ready to fly back to America.

"You're really trying hard not to make friends this morning, huh?" she asked before walking down stairs. Of course, I followed her.

"How about I make it up to you? I'll take you to the mall today and you can see what Japanese shops are like."

For a second, she looked skeptical, but then a deep breath. There was that obvious moment of "I might be mad at him, but I'm kind of stuck with him" and she nodded. I character-changed and I saw her get wide-eyed.

"I-I-I see the ears, a-and the tail!" she yelled. "I mean, not very well, but I can see the outline and it's a bit blurry where they are!" She obviously wasn't taking this well.

"Yo…stop making so much racket, nya…" Yoru cried. Odelle took this the worst.

"Th-there is a floating cat thing by your shoulder!" she started pointing at Yoru like I didn't already see him.

"Oh, she can see me, nya?" He was obviously thinking of ways he could freak her out. I gave him a small flick to get him to stop thinking that way.

"You should be trying to find ways to freak her out less, not more, Yoru." I told him. I looked back to Odelle who recognized the name.

"So, that's Yoru?" she asked. I nodded and she started going towards him.

"What is she doing, nya?" Yoru asked.

"Just let her hold you a second. For some reason touching the impossible makes her feel better."

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Odelle stated smugly. I just chuckled and brought Yoru down a bit for her. She gently grabbed him and started petting the top of his head.

"Oy, nya! Oh, oh, that spot feels good, nya….Wait! I'm not supposed to like this, nya! But it feels…so good…ohhh right behind the ear, nya." He started purring for the first time ever. She obviously heard it since she started to giggle. After a few moments of him purring, she let him go.

"I like this chick, nya!"

"So Ikuto," Odelle started, obviously hesitating. "How come I can see your ears and Yoru, but only kind of? I mean, I know I don't have an egg, so I can't understand how I can kind of see these things." She was obviously trying to say it like she thought it was weird she didn't know, but she didn't want me to think that.

"Honestly, I don't know. It's possible it's a sign that you'll be having an egg soon." I looked at her and her eyes were the size of saucers. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just don't see how that's possible. I've never really had a super huge dream, so I don't know what my egg will be." She began to space, obviously searching every bit of her brain to figure out what it could be.

"C'mon, grab a bite to eat and we'll head over to the mall."

When we reached the mall parking lot, we saw at least a three-quarters of a thousand cars parked. I was used to this, but Odelle must not have been. Her eyes were wide with disbelief and mouth hung open just a bit.

"There are so many people here! I've never seen this many gathered in one place in my life!" She was so wide eyed I thought her eyes would fall out any second.

"Really? It's pretty normal here." A boy said from behind us. We looked back to see none other than Tsukasa.

"If you dare pull out something from your pocket…" I said just a little bit too late. He brought out his catnip and held it in front of my face. I went into total cat mode for a second. I stopped when I heard Odelle laughing as Tsukasa pet my cat ears.

"Be quiet…" I said with annoyance heavy in my voice. "It's not that funny."

"Now you know how I felt this morning." She said, trying to annoy me. I just darted a glare at her, which made her laugh even more.

"C'mon, Odelle. We better head inside before all the good stuff is gone." I said, waving goodbye to Tsukasa.

"So who was that?" she asked.

"Tsukasa. He and I have known each other since I was little. He actually took me on my first world tour, but I forced to come back by my step-father." I looked at her for a second to make sure she wasn't about to reach up and hug me like she did last night. Instead, though, she was looking at the ground. She got lost so easily, especially when I told her about my past. It was obviously she genuinely cared about people. That's one of the things that made me want to have her come with me over anyone else. So many people just pretend to listen and care, but she really does listen. She really does care. It's a kindness not many people have in them, so it's good to hold onto those who do, because it could be a while before you find another one like that.

Finally we walked inside and you could just see a light turn on for her. She looked like a little kid going into a toy shop for the first time. It was fairly cute.

"So, where do you want to go first?" I asked.

Lily: Hellooooo! thanks for reading! Ikuto and Odelle are busy shopping so I'm doing this alone. Anyway, it appears Odelle forgot to mention that I dont own any shugo chara stuff or Tokyo (although, that would be awesome if I did xD) anyway, please R&R!


	9. Chapter 9

Lily: Okay...so im an idiot...I almost added ch 8 twice... xD OH! and I hope some of you noticed I've started not adding names to the ch. That's because I don't want to hint anything. tee hee ^^

Odelle: hint anything...?

Ikuto: -pulls odelle close- it must be the ch we kiss.

Lily: no, no, no! Ikuto let her go! We'll wait until later for that!

-Ikuto let's Odelle go- Odelle: Thank you Lily-chan ^^' Also, thank you for not owning anything Shugo Chara! :D

Chapter 9

I looked around and there were thousands of people visible just when you walked in. This was such a step up from my favorite mall back in America, which wasn't even half this size. Ikuto asked where I'd like to go to first, but I just couldn't decide. I took his hand and just started to drag him. After a while, I found a shop that looked interesting and dragged him in. We continued with this for several hours. In the last store we went to, the clothing was a bit weird, so I decided to actually try the clothes on. I saw an evil glint in Ikuto's eyes when I told him I was going to the changing rooms.

"If you dare some something perverted I'll smack that smirk from your face!" I stated very clearly. He gave me two little puppy-dog eyes.

"I just thought I'd tell you that instead of waiting in line you could just change right here. No one is currently around." As soon as he said that, I did exactly as I said I would. I gave him a nice hard slap across the face.

"I hope that gives you a bit of commonsense you perv! I don't know what up with you today but you need to wise up!" I said raising my voice. People started staring and Ikuto just held his cheek. His expression clearly showed that he was shocked I actually slapped him. I did a small sigh, relaxing a bit before adding to what I said.

"I apologize if I seem ungrateful but you've been in a bad mood and I really don't appreciate it. I can understand a small joke every once in a while but your jokes are extremely sexual and inappropriate." Once I got that off my chest, I realized I'd lost the excitement of getting new clothes from Japanese shops, so I hung back the items I was going to try on. I figured that I had four new shirts and three new pairs of jeans anyway. I started to head back to Ikuto when I felt an arm go around my waist and a hand with a knife in it cover my mouth and pull me closer.

"If you scream you die. Got that?" As soon as he said that, my heart started to beat twenty-times faster than when he first grabbed. I had to be beating at least 150 beats a minutes. Tears started to stream down my face as the worst fear of my life was in me. I nodded gently so that the knife just a centimeter from my face wouldn't cut me. He carefully brought his hand from my mouth hid the knife in his jacket, now pointing it towards my side. We started to walk out and I caught a glimpse of Ikuto. He looked at me without turning his head, but as soon as he saw me with the kidnapper and crying, he looked straight at me with protective anger.

"Move faster!" the kidnapper whispered fiercely. I immediately looked away from Ikuto and straight ahead of me. I felt more hot tears stream down. When we got outside the building, he started to lead me towards a black van with black tinted windows. I gulped realizing this was the end of my life.

Suddenly, I felt the arm off my waist even though we weren't even within a few feet of the vehicle. I took the opportunity to get back a ways and I saw Ikuto over the man who kidnapped me. He now had the knife and was holding it against the guy's neck.

"What the hell do you think you're doing with her?!" Ikuto yelled. A few more tears streamed down my face, simply because of a relieving confusion of what was going on. _Did Ikuto just…save me? No that's…impossible…_ Oh who was I kidding? I thought that about half of Ikuto.

"I-I'm sorry! P-please let me go!" cried the man. "I-I'm just trying to make a living! I get paid poorly at my real job, but my boss likes pretty girls and pays a good price for them." When he said this, Ikuto brought his arms higher up his back.

"So you find that a good reason? What kind of sicko are you? Nobody should do something like that!" He was about to bring the man's arms even higher up his back, but I stopped him.

"Tell me, sir. I'm assuming you have family?" The man nodded in reply.

"Yes, a wife and a son. He's in elementary school. Neither of them know of my part-time job though."

"Would you be ashamed if they found out? Also, how do you know that none of the girls you take to your boss are married? How would you feel if a man kidnapped your wife to take to another man to do who knows what to her?" I tried to become a voice of reason, and by him relaxing a bit, I think it worked.

"I…I never thought of it like that… I'm sorry; to you and your boyfriend."

"It's alright. Ikuto, you can let him go now." Ikuto darted a look up to me, obviously saying that he thought the man should die. I shook my head no and mouthed that we could talk about it later. I gently helped him up, to make it slightly easier on him. He kept the knife in hand, even when he picked me up after character changing.

"You're lucky she's kind." He said as he dropped the knife on the ground and practically flying away. He brought me to a little structure that looked like a mini concert stage.

"What the hell was that?" he asked bluntly.

"It's a simple thing called kindness. He realized his mistakes, and even if he didn't, it is not us to judge. We ourselves are imperfect as well." Once again, I was being a voice of reason. He frowned at me, obviously wishing I would have let him kill the man. "Besides, he had a son and a wife. While you know your father is alive, his son would forever know his father is dead. If you don't kill him because it's the right thing to do, don't kill him for the sake of his son who he obviously cares about a great deal." I hoped that making it a bit more personal would clear things up. Luckily it did and he visually relaxed.

"Alright. You've made your point. So, do you want to know where this is?" he asked. I hadn't really thought about it, but once he mentioned it, I was a bit curious, so I nodded. "This is where I'd escape and play my father's old violin. A couple of times Amu found me over here." He said getting a grin on his face. I didn't know why, but I felt a bit empty inside when he did this. I guess I was jealous that two guys were falling for Amu when I couldn't even get one guy to.

"So would you mind playing your violin for me someday?" I asked, trying to distract myself. I was faking a huge smile of hope. I realized I specialized in that.

"I'd love to. So tell me, why didn't you react when he said I was your boyfriend?" he asked suspiciously.

"There's times when it's okay to argue. When you're trying to be a voice of reason is not one of those times." _Although I can't say I'd also never be such…_ I thought in the back of my mind. I mentally punched myself in the head for thinking that. I mean, he's Ikuto! Perverted, cat-eared Ikuto! _However, he did just save my life…_ That's it! I'm currently drawn to him because he saved my life. No other reason what-so-ever!

"I suppose you have a point. You know, you make things sound so simple and all, even when it's really complicated. That's a good gift you have."

"That's not the gift. The gift is that I bring things back down to proportion. It was never really complicated." I said, earning a perplexed look from Ikuto. He quickly shook it off, though.

"Well, now that it's all said and done; we should go home and get some rest. Our plane leaves in two days." I nodded and we headed back to his house.

Ikuto: -getting closer to Odelle- Really? You're starting to fall for me, hm?

Odelle: N-no! L-Lily-chaaaaaaaannnn

Lily: Ikuto, back away from girl! She's going by script! If she wrote this thing...well...then you could tease her. But she didn't write it.

Ikuto: So since you wrote it I can tease you?

Lily: NO! I'm not in this book! I'm just a commenter! Speaking of which...PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW :D ALSO, WE HAVE OVER 300 VIEWS! AND 14 COUNTRIES HAVE READ THE BOOK JUST THIS MONTH! THANK YOU SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO MUCH! Y'all have no clue at all how much it means to me! :D :D :D :D THANK YOU! Sadly...we still only have 3 reviews...So to mix it up a bit, from now on, I won't post the chapter until I get a review for the latest chapter.


	10. Chapter 10

Lily: WELCOME TO CHAPTER 10! OMG! If you've made it this far, please leave a review telling me so. I just like hearing from you guys ^^ Speaking of which... I've decided to make a challenge for all of you...

Ikuto: Oh gosh...

Odelle: I actually agree with Ikuto on this...Uh oh...

Lily: *cough* Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted -glares at Odelle and ikuto- I was going to tell you how I will now only post the new chapter when I get at least two reviews. (yes, TWO. That way I have plenty of time to come up with ideas because it is HARD to come up with new ideas o.o ...which is kind of why this is a chapter...sorries ^^')

Odelle: Oh, that's not...as bad as I thought...

Ikuto: Yeah, it could be worse... anyway, This is last time we'll mention this since you get the idea, but Lily doesn't own anything Shugo Chara.

I woke up the next morning to see Ikuto facing me with his eyes closed. I screamed and scrambled out of bed, looking like I'd just seen a serial killer in my room. He opened one eye and smirked.

"Boo." he said. He was obviously very proud of himself. I looked around the room to make sure I fell asleep in Utau's room, and sure enough, I had.

"What the heck are you doing in here?" I whispered loudly. I was so ticked at him, yet too in shock still to do anything. My breathing was still uneven and I could feel the hairs on my body sticking up.

"It got cold last night and you're warm." he said coolly, still smirking. That pushed me over the edge. I got up, ripped him out from under the covers, but before I could push him out, I saw he didn't have a shirt, or really anything except boxers. My face instantly went rosy, so I closed my eyes and threw him even harder out. "I see you're not accustomed to seeing guys like this." he said plainly through the door.

"You're right, AND I NEVER WANT TO BE!" I yelled. "Now go and get into some clothes so I can have a conversation with you!" I said as I locked the door. I heard him chuckle.

"But it was so nice laying there with you." he stated flirtatiously. I felt my cheeks get bright red. Within seconds I heard something fall onto the floor. I looked through the crack of the door to see Ikuto holding his stomach and laughing. I opened the door and gave him a real reason to hold his stomach, with a hard kick. He immediately stopped laughing and started to groan in pain.

"I don't know who taught you such awful manners, but I hope to fix you up before we find your father!" I yelled before slamming the door closed. I turned around and saw that there was a plain, shiny blue egg on the sheet of the bed. We must not have seen it since it was under the blankets. "Oh my gosh…" I practically whispered. When I realized what it was I yelled it again and again. "OH MY GOSH! OH MY GOSH! IKUTO! IKUTO COME SEE THIS!" I yelled as I swung open the door. He was standing at his doorway with just a pair of pants on, but I didn't care. I grabbed his hand and pulled him in, showing him the egg.

"Well would you looky there…" he said examining it. "Odelle, I think you just gave birth to the second embryo." he said in a quiet, breathy, serious tone. I saw a look in his eyes. There was something in his eyes. I didn't know what it was though. It gave me shivers down my spine, though, so I knew it couldn't be good.

"Ikuto, can I have my back?" I said in my reasoning voice. He snapped out of whatever it was.

"Of course. Sorry." he said as he handed it back. I just couldn't get myself to believe it was the embryo he had told me about when he explained about the guardian character stuff. Something in me knew it wasn't the embryo; I didn't know how, I just knew.

"So what time are we leaving tomorrow?" I asked, trying to change the subject. He smirked, obviously seeing what I was trying to do.

"We'll leave at noon towards Rome. The orchestra starts there for this season."

"Well, we'll have to be sure to do as the Romans do." I joked. He did a small laugh.

"That was a pathetic joke." he said bluntly, still smiling. I nodded.

"Wow…time sure has flown here, huh?" I said out of the blue.

"It has hasn't it?" he said rhetorically. He got an expression on his face that I hadn't seen before. "How would you like to spend the day with Amu and Rima and Utau? I figure it's your last full day here, so why not?" he said. I felt my eyes grow wide with excitement as I reached up and gave him a huge hug.

"Oh thank you thank you thank you!" I said before rushing to grab my phone.

Ikuto Pov:

It felt odd having her hug me when I was indecent to be anywhere but home or a guy-friend's house. She reminded me so much of Amu in a more mature version. I felt my heart beat once extremely hard, as though it'd skipped a beat at this thought. I brushed it off, though, since I knew it couldn't be. I love Amu; the girl who risked everything to save me from myself. However, I can't say that I won't feel that whoever ends up with Odelle isn't lucky; she's quite an amazing girl.

Odelle finished her call and looked at me again. Her smile quickly turned into bright red cheeks and shock, realizing I didn't have a shirt yet. She was such a fickle girl, but I could have fun with that.

"What? You were the one who dragged me into your room while I was shirtless." I said in a jokingly defensive tone. Her eyes went into more embarrassment when she realized that I wasn't lying, either.

"Eh-eh, eh-eh." she tried, but couldn't get anything out. She ended up just pulling her eyes away all together. I took this time and skillfully walked until I was right behind her. I puffed a bit of air on her ear, causing her to quickly turn around with a small scream. I held my arm out in case she had slipped, which she had. Unlike with Amu, though, she just brought me down with hr. It ended up with me on top and her on bottom, both of us just sitting there on the ground. This predicament oddly reminded me of the second time I ever met Amu in the home-ec's classroom. The biggest difference is that while Amu was just gazing into my eyes with the slightest blush, Odelle was beet red and freaking out on the inside. Of course, when it happened to Amu I was wearing a shirt, so it was understandable how Odelle could have this reaction. Because of this, I decided I could easily have fun with this as well, but I would be nice and just get off of her. There was a physical sense of relief to Odelle when I got off, so it was obvious she was happy about it. After a few moments of silence, Odelle's phone rang saying Amu and all them were here to get her and take her to Amu's. I was disappointed, since I could have far more fun with this.

Lily: Like I said...it was a short chapter..BUT! it had plenty of true-Ikuto moments :D That's gotta count for something, right? Plus, I mean, he's shirtless, so you ALL know you liked that XD

Ikuto: And you call me the perv...

Odelle: She's not being a perv! You're like, even more loved than Amu on your show, so she's pleasing her fans! There's a difference!

Ikuto: so...the fans are pervs?

Both girls: -face palm- Word. Twister. We didn't say that...

Ikuto: Whatever.

Lily: Anywho, remember the challenge guys. From now on I need to reviews per chapter for the next one to post. ;)


	11. Chapter 11

**Lily: sorry...I kind of skipped the whole sleep over scene and rome scene...and yeah...i skipped a LOT. BUT! what I came up with is REALLY awesome (Note...I'm already working on next chapter and it's kind of..-cough- well...read to the ned of the chapter and you'll see)**

Odelle Pov

I've now been travelling with Ikuto for three months, and every day has been a blast. My egg still hasn't opened, though, so I'm beginning to wonder myself if it's the embryo. I don't want to think it is, but the egg just won't open.

After four months of travel, I've noticed Ikuto eyeing my egg more and more. He quickly looks away, but only to get a saddened look on his face. I feel as though I'm the bad guy for not letting him at least test if it's the embryo.

Month five and I'm losing hope in my egg. If it's not opened by next month, I'm letting him try to make a wish. A part of me wants it to come true, since that should make Ikuto happy, but a part of me doesn't want to wish to come true so I know that it will eventually give me a chara. I feel so selfish and bratty.

It's still not open this month, so I've decided to let him make a wish.

"Ikuto…" I said quietly as I woke him up. He always slept in pretty late unless I woke him up.

"Five more minutes…" he mumbled as he turned his face onto his pillow.

"But if you wait five minutes, I won't let you make a wish." I stated. He popped his head up and looked at me.

"What are you talking about?" he asked in a very grumbly voice.

"It's been six months, and you've obviously wanted to try making a wish on my egg to test it. I've decided to let you, with the warning that it might not be what you hope for." I said very clearly as I handed him the egg. However, as soon as the egg was in his hand, it jumped away. I saw a ball of light surround me when it did this.

"Wh-what's going on?!" I shouted. Finally, I saw the egg go in front of me.

"Relax Odelle-chan. You just need to know that you're losing faith in me, and you can't do that. If you let Ikuto make a wish, I'll get an 'X'." the egg said in a cute girly voice. My eyes grew since I had no clue what the heck was going on.

"C-come out of your shell! I want to see you!" I yelled. Sadly, the light started to fade. "No! No!" I yelled, but I was back to the ground before I knew it.

"What happened?" Ikuto asked in obvious confusion as he sat upright on the bed with legs crossed. I had to gather my own senses before I could answer.

"M-m-m-my e-e-egg t-t-talked t-to me!" I nearly shouted. That's when it occurred to me that it could only have 'talked' to me if a chara was inside. "IKUTO! MY EGG TALKED TO ME!" I exclaimed before twirling around the room. Luckily we were on the first floor so we didn't have to worry about waking people below us.

"I wonder what kind of chara you'll have…" he said, mostly to himself. I stopped and did the confused little kid blinks.

"That's a good question. I don't even know why I got a chara. I can't think of any dreams of mine…" I said, the last part being a mumble.

"What? Everyone has some sort of dream." he flat out stated. I thought a little bit harder, but then shrugged.

"I don't know. I mean, when I was twelve I wanted to sing, but no one believed in me so I gave up on that. Then when I was thirteen I wanted to be a writer, again no one believed in me. When I went to Paris when we first met, I wanted to be free, and now I am. So I just don't know. I guess it could be any of those…" I said with a shrug. "Well, I'm going to take a shower, then how bout we explore…where are we again? I lost track."

"We're in Washington D.C. Now," he started, with cat ears popping out of his skull. I held my hand out telling him to stop.

"Not another word. I've learned cat ears are a bad thing when I've said something you could easily turn into a verbally sexual harassment." I stated bluntly. I saw his cat ears go downwards as he got a fake pouty lip.

"I'm hurt that you don't trust me." he said putting his feet on the ground, but remaining sitting. I bent down so our eyes were at about the same level.

"Awww." I said sarcastically with the same fake pout. "Is there anything I can do to help the boo-boo on your heart?" I asked before teasingly booping his nose. However, I wished I hadn't touched his nose when he grabbed my arm and pulled me into his lap with a smirk.

"A kiss might help." he said teased. I felt all the blood rush to my head in one swift motion.

"N-n-no!" I yelled before trying to escape. Sadly, his grip stayed firm. He put a hand on the side of neck. "I-I-Ikuto…" I said wincing. After a moment with my eyes closed I felt his hot breath right next to my face. _Crap…he seriously meant it…_I thought. That's when Ikuto removed his hand and gently pushed me off. I opened my eyes to see him no longer smirking.

"This is what I meant by you don't trust me." he said before walking towards the door. I blinked a few times before it clicked into my brain he was leaving.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I asked, causing him to look at me as though I was an ignorant small child.

"To steal from the free breakfast while you shower." he said before half-slamming the door. I sat where I was for a second, trying to figure out what just happened. _So… I'm the bad guy now since he got super close to face while I was in his lap by force? Yeah, that makes sense._ I sarcastically thought to myself. I decided to go and shower to see if that didn't help a bit.

When I came out, I was for a huge shock. I knew Ikuto wouldn't be back to the room yet, but apparently, some men in black suits were, so I felt red go over my face since I was in a robe.

"Who are you?" I asked as I hid behind the door.

"That doesn't matter; where's Ikuto?" one of them asked. One he said it I knew who they were. I pulled my phone out my robe pocket (how could I not have my phone with me at all times?) and texted Ikuto to not come up without looking. _I'll need to call and thank Susie for the endless practice._ I thought.

"H-h-he d-doesn't b-belong to this room. I-I don't even k-know who you're talking about!" I lied. I was such a crappy liar.

"Yeah right." the man said as he stepped closer.

"Please, I am indecent. Let me keep my dignity and don't get closer!" I yelled. He gave me a confused look, but then saw the white fuzz was on my sleeve. A big smirk appeared on his face before he looked back and nodded for the other three guys to leave. _S.H.I.T._ I thought. There were no other words fitting.

**-no commentary except to please leave a review.-**


	12. Crack crack

**I know, you've waited over a week...but I got kind of stuck on what to write for this...so I just jotted down a bit more and made this a short chapter XD Sorry guys...errrmm...girls...**

Ikuto Pov

_Should I have been so hard on her? I mean…I guess I can now see where she would be freaked out…_ I didn't think about that before. I decided to get back to our room and apologize.

Odelle Pov

He grabbed the front of my robe and pushed me onto one of the beds before taking off his jacket, removed his tie, and partially unbuttoning his shirt. Once he did such, he got on top of me and started kissing my neck fiercely.

"Tell my where Ikuto is and I'll stop." he said as he started moving his hand down to the belt of my robe and untying it. I wasn't going to break, though. Not for the life of me. I felt hopeless, though. I thought that I could only protect one of us.

Ikuto Pov

I got to our room and saw two men in suits standing and waiting outside the room. I heard a girl screaming from inside. Anger rushed through me as I quickly transformed into black lynx

"Get away NOW if you want to live!" I shouted. Both men stood their ground until I charged at them. They suddenly decided it was time to go when they saw three razor-sharp claws flaying towards them.

Odelle Pov

He kept his lips constantly on my neck. He started to bring the robe off of me and I felt my entire body burn. Rivers of tears streamed off my face but I mostly thought of Ikuto. I wasn't the one who was going to be imprisoned.

After several more seconds like this went by, there was a crash near the front door. The man in the suit jumped off of me and the door burst open to reveal a pissed Ikuto. Ikuto's eyes first locked with the man's and then down to mine while I was frantically lifting my robe back up. For a split second, his face went to extremely worried, but once he returned his gaze back to the man's, they were even angrier than before. He started straight to the man and they had a fierce battle Finally, Ikuto reached me and the guy who tried to use me ran off.

Ikuto sat on the edge of the bed and pulled into a tight hug. At first I was dazed, but soon dug my face into his chest and cried. I just sat there for almost half an hour crying into him.

"Why were you letting him do that to you?" he asked after a little while.

"Th-th-they wanted you. I could tell they were going to hurt you. I… I couldn't…" I started before crying more. I felt his grip loosen a bit as if he wasn't sure what to say. After a few moments, he held me even closer and even tighter.

"I'm so sorry." he said. I felt a tear fall into my hair. I looked up to see Ikuto had tears in his eyes, so I wiped them away.

"It's okay, but…what did they want?" I asked. I hadn't even thought of what they might have been wanting from him.

"I know I'm getting closer to finding my father. They probably want to stop me from finding him." he said. I was still confused though.

"What's wrong with finding your father? Wouldn't that be a good thing?" Ikuto shook his head.

"It would mean my step-father loses his position and the company. Obviously, we can't have that, now can we?" he said starting to get angry. I stood up, making sure that I was properly covered since I was still in the robe.

"Well, we need to start being more careful. If they came once, they'll come again." I began pacing around the room, so he turned back to normal, so when I turned around after pacing away to pace back, he grabbed my shoulders and looked me dead in the eyes.

"Calm. Down." I didn't know why, but I felt my cheeks go pink. There were chills down my spine and my eyes were dancing; all over those two words and him simply touching me. It was a peculiar thing to me. _Okay, it's just a mild realization. I mean, any girl would get a fast-beating heart and pink face if she was in a robe in a hotel with the perfect stranger. Right?_ that's what it was. I was sure of it. But then I heard a cracking noise.


	13. Chapter 13

**Lucky number 13! Woo hoo! Anyways, sorry I've neglecting this book a bit... BUT I'm taking a break from one of my other main books to work on this, so that should help :D Well, enjoy! :D**

Chapter 13

"Yo! I'm Susu! Odelle's chara symbolizing her wish to be loved by someone she loves!" a little red-everything-except-skin kitty-person said after flying out my egg. Her tail was a dark red while the rest was a bright red. She wore a dress that puffed out at the bottom in a slightly pinker color, but not really pink. Her ears just blended with her hair and if I didn't know better from the pink in the middle where they was skin popped through so she could hear correctly, I'd say it was just a part of her hair that was poking upwards. To say the least, I was dumbfounded. At least, until Ikuto spoke up.

"So tell me, who _does_ Odelle love? I assumed she was over that Jake guy." he said with a slight eye-roll at the end.

"Well he's more gentlemanly than you'll ever be…" I mumbled. I saw a pair of ears pop from his head.

"Hm?" he asked in an annoyed tone and swoosh of his tail. I couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dude, I can't take you seriously like that!" I couldn't hold it in. I laughed really hard. However, after a few moments, I felt a hand go under my chin and lift my face to meet Ikuto's.

"You shouldn't laugh, Odelle. It hurts." His eyes started to glaze, causing me to blush for some reason. That's when I felt ears spring from my head and a tail pop into my bottom. He then smirked evilly. "So that's who." he whispered before straightening his back. My cheeks went into a deep flushed color and I waved my arms frantically.

"NO! NO NO NO NO NO! NO WAY! NO!" I yelled. I glared over to Susu. "WHAT THE HECK?!"

"Sorry. I wanted to test it out. Sorry Ikuto, but no she doesn't like you. But…why were you so happy about her liking you?" she teased. This caught both mine and Ikuto's attention.

"That's a good question." I stated with a smirk. I saw him get a faint blush. "Oh my gosh. The bad boy, perverted Ikuto is blushing. Susu! Get the camera!"

"Shut up…" he grumbled. His ears were pointing down and his tail did the same, slightly flickering back and forth. I saw Yoru do the same. My heart dropped.

"You okay Ikuto?" I asked, realizing he was seriously annoyed. I hugged him from his left, squeezing my left hand between his shoulder and I, then rapped my right arm over to his right shoulder. It was just like my mother always did when I was younger.

"I'm fine, just…let's drop it." he stated. I nodded, not wanting to push anything. A thought crossed my mind so I went over and searched my bag. "What'cha doing?" he asked, not sure what I was looking for.

"I'm looking for…Ah! Here we go!" I pulled out a little phone charm. It was a black cat that looked almost exactly like Yoru. "I saw it in a little shop when we went to the mall in Tokyo. I planned to give it to you for some more special occasion, but right now might be a good time." I handed it to him a bit nervously. He studied it for a moment before giving a crooked smile and lightly thumping me on the head with his fist.

"Thanks, squirt." This deserved him an odd look.

"Squirt? Are you begging for an awful nick-name?" I teased. He just rolled his eyes.

"C'mon. Let's go tour the town."

XXX

We started walking around for hours on end. We toured the white House, walked around some memorials; all sorts of fun. Finally, we went to the DC version of Central park.

"Wait right here. I'm going to go grab some snow cones." he said nicely.

"Alright. Rainbow please," I said with a wink. He nodded and headed off.

After about thirty seconds, I group of guys walked over near the bench I was sitting on. Finally, one of them spoke up saying, "Well well, hello there," in what I believe was a seductive tone.

"Yeah. Hi. You know, normally, I don't get irritated by people so quickly. You just made the record." I heard his friends go "Oooooh burrrrn," at my remark, causing me to turn away so I could smirk proudly at myself. Sadly he kept at it.

"Now, now guys; she's obviously hurting. I mean, she obviously just fell from heaven."

"No, I'm actually looking for a soul to trade places with me in hell. You would be a good fit." This got his friends to laugh pretty hard. I have to say, they have a good sense in humor.

"Well, you must at least be from Tennessee,"

"Cause you're the only ten I see. Yeah, I've heard that one way too many times." I was actually starting to enjoy myself. At first it was completely irritating, but now it's kind of a game. Sadly, the game was over when Ikuto came back.

"These guys being a problem?" he asked as he sat next to me, putting an arm around my waste.

"Nah, we're just joking around. It's fine." I looked over to the guys who were obviously about to pee their pants scared. Ikuto held me a bit closer to tell them to back off.

"Yeah, uh, well. It was nice meeting you…"

"Odelle."

"Yeah, Odelle. Well, uh, bye." The group started walking off, an aura of fear surrounding them.

"Here's your cone by the way." He handed it to me and it took every last bit of strength in me not to dump it on his head. Instead I just stood up, moved about half a foot away, and sat back down.

"Thank you. So tell me…why were you suddenly so protective?" I was nervous about asking, but I didn't know why. I guess it was because we just got over a big fight and I didn't want to start another. Luckily he just laughed.

"Sorry, you've just become like family to me. That being said, I will pubble any guys who flirt with you. Or at least scare them away."

"Alright, but why did you do it in a way that made it look like you and I were…together…" It was an awkward concept for me to talk about since there was no way I'd EVER go out with Ikuto. I mean, now that I really kno him, there's just no way I could go out with him.

"Whatever gets them gone." he said. After a few moments, cat ears popped out of his head and turned towards a direction, turning his entire head in the process.

"What's wrong?"

"Let's go." He grabbed my hand and started pulling me into the forest-area. His face was blank; almost as though something else was controlling him. Finally, he stopped right in front of a fence.

"Ikuto? What going o-ahhh!" He lifted me off my feet; literally. A blush spread all across my face in several shades of red. Naturally, I held on tightly to him, causing him to snicker.

"I could get used to this." He smirked from ear to ear. That little smirking perv… "Thank you." I looked at him confused. _He just replied to my THOUGHT!_ "You're thinking out loud. You should work on that. But first…" he jumped up and over the fence to an amusement park. "Let's have some fun." _WHAT?_

"FUN?! I THOUGHT SOMETHING WAS WRONG LIKE AN EASTER PERSON CHASING US OR SOMETHING AND YOU'RE SAYING WE'RE JUST GOING TO HAVE FUN?!" Okay, I was mildly being unreasonable, but not too badly…Okay, I realized how insane I sounded when I he started breaking down in laughter. "Shut up." He brought it down to only chuckling now.

"Sorry." With that, we walked and got on rides. I think we rode every single ride in that park. It was no less than the best time ever. However, when we stopped and grab some food from one of the shops, I couldn't help but feel watched.

"Don't be so paranoid," Ikuto said as he ruffled my hair.

I started straightening it out while saying, "Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out there following us." He just laughed at me as we sat down and ate. However, the feeling never went away. It was brought up even more when I saw a messy-haired figure disappear into the shadows of a treed area.

**Ikuto: Paranoid. Lighten up, Del.**

**Odelle: Don't call me that, Kut.**

**Ikuto: Been called worse.**

**Odelle: You suck...**

**Lily: OKAY! WELL, now that we're all making friends here, please leave a review peoples!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter fourteen everyone :D Now, I have a challenge for you...you see, my other Ouran Host Club fanfic has nearly 200 views more than this, and four more reviews, but it's only been up just short of a month. Do you realize how sad that is as the author of this book? (the ouran writer me LOVE it, but it's embarrassing to this me) SO, the challenge is that by chapter 20 we are at LEAST equal to my other fanfic. Deal? Good! :D Thank you to all participants. Be sure to have the person or people who listen to you review or message me that you were the person who told them about the book (ur penname, not real.) because whoever gives me the most new-viewers gets early access to info about the book. (Not anything that I'm planning already on like, how to end the book for whenever I start getting tired of writing for it, but like, within the next 5 chapters sorta deal. Cuz I at least plan one or two things before I write xD) So yeah, there's your guys's homework :D enjoy chapter 4!**

Ch 14

"I'll be right back." I headed over to the area where I had seen the figure. I know he had been watching us. It was exactly where I had felt the staring. Sadly, I didn't see anything for a while; but once I turned my back on the trees, a hand was placed very abruptly to my mouth and pulled me backwards a bit.

"Stop searching for me." a semi-husky voice said. It sounded about thirty-five to forty years old. I quickly calmed my breathing before jabbing backwards at the rib-cage, getting the arm off of my face, and turning to see my victim. He looked just like Ikuto. I backed out of the trees just enough so Ikuto could see me, but not far enough that I couldn't see Mr. Tsukiyomi.

"What is it?"

"L-l-l-look!" I said pointing to where the figure had been, but it was gone now.

"What am I looking at?" He looked as me as though I were insane.

"I'm telling you! He was right here! He had your hair color, same body type, same everything, only older!" He nodded, obviously still not believing me.

"I swear your dad was right there! I mean, I felt his breath on my neck and jabbed his ribs! I KNOW HE WAS THERE!"

"What do you mean you felt his breath on your neck and you jabbed his ribs?" When he said this, I realized I sounded really insane…

"Well, when I first started going back towards our food, like, the very second my back was to the trees, a hand went over my mouth and he told me to stop trying to find him. Then, to escape, I kind of jabbed him the ribs and removed his hand from my face…"

"Right. Well, I think we need to get back to the hotel and get some rest. Wouldn't you agree I mean, it is getting rather late." I checked the time and sure enough, it was nearing eleven o'clock. I sighed in defeat.

We got home and _Wait…HOME?! No, this is just the room we share. Not really home._ We got back to the _hotel room_ and each got into our separate beds. However, my bed seemed warmer than it usually did. I shrugged it off until I felt two strong arms snake around my waist. That's when I snapped my eyes open to see two purple-ish blue orbs staring back at me. My face felt like it was trapped in an oven while my feet went cold and my stomach did flips. For the first time in a while, I was speechless. To be sure I kept quiet; he brought a finger up to his smirking lips before mouthing 'Go to sleep.' I wanted to argue, but decided I better just turn my back to him and deal with it. It'd be easier than arguing. I tried to make it clear that I was not doing this because I wanted to, but he must not have gotten that message because I soon felt head place itself on my cheek with cat-like hair mixing with mine. An ear twitched as well, meaning he must have character changed, for obvious reasons. I wanted to be angry at how perverted and indirectly flirtatious Ikuto was being….but I couldn't.

XXX

I woke up the next morning curled into Ikuto's chest. We were both character changed. I couldn't believe it. This was insane! Why the heck would I be character changed right now? There was no logical explanation to this. _Except maybe you've fallen for him._ What? I mentally started slapping myself. There was no way. Absolutely. 100%. No. Way. What was I even thinking? That's it! I wasn't! I'm just tired and think weird unreasonable thoughts! After a few more moments, I felt Ikuto's breathing change. _He's awake._ A few moments after that, it changed more, becoming a faster pace. His heart also started speeding up. _Realizing where he is; natural first reaction is embarrassment. _That's when it calmed. _Here comes perverseness._

"Good morning." he whispered in a seductive tone. He obviously hadn't a clue I was awake. Let's keep it that way.

I yawned and stretched my back a bit, pushing myself away from chest. I pretended like I just realized I was next to him when I was actually pushing against something. My eyes shot open and he smirked flirtatiously. "Wh-wh-what are you doing in my bed?!" I struggled to get away, causing him to pull me closer; his mouth right by my ear.

"Don't you remember? It was cold so I decided we should sleep in the same bed. You agreed without any arguing." he whispered in the same tone. Only this time, he bit my ear. Enough games.

I punched him just hard enough in the stomach to get him to hold onto that instead of my waist. To add on, I pinched his ear like a mother whose child isn't cooperating. It was honestly a comical sight watching me discipline him.

"Okay, new rule; no doing…that." I didn't know exactly what to call it. I guess…fake-flirting? Yeah. That works.

"Rules? Since were there _rules?_" he asked as he sat up. I rolled my eyes as I let go of his ear.

"There _has_ to be rules. They're what make the world go around. Well…not literally…but they're very important." I tried to sound very smart and philosophical, but in a mildly joking tone, causing him to laugh.

"You're cute. You know that?"

"I'm also serious. I've had tons of friends who had guy(s) fake-flirt with them and eventually fell for the guy and got their heart broken at some point. I can't see the idea of me falling for you, but they couldn't either and I DO NOT want to fall into their footsteps." He gave me an odd look before laughing hysterically.

"You're afraid that _you_ will fall for _me_?" He laughed some more. "That won't happen. Don't worry. But, if it floats your boat, I'll, as you say, fake-flirt less." He smirked, knowing that I asked for none. I glared so threw his hands up to tell me it was deal or no deal.

"Fine. How much is less?"

"Let's see, I currently do something fake-flirtatious two or three times a day, so…only once or twice a day." He made it sound so reasonable.

"You don't realize how serious I'm being; do you?" This gave him a chuckle.

"You're being paranoid. Besides, would it be too terrible to fall for me?" Seductive tone #3 for the day.

"And you have reached your own limit for the day. Decided you'd use it early in the morning?"

"That doesn't count."

"How not? It was a flirtatious tone, but you weren't really flirting." He made a low growl, causing my too laugh a bit louder than I should have. Okay, it was a _lot_ louder than I should have.

"Oh shut up…" He grabbed some clothes from his suit case. "I'm taking a shower. Do what you like." With that, he disappeared into the bathroom. I decided to pull out my tablet and open my piano app. I didn't get a lot of keys, but I could choose the range so it worked well enough. I started to work on some covers I was planning on doing. Nothing seemed right.

I grabbed a pen and started to write down some lyrics of my own.

_"You and her, nearly a perfect match_

_Everyone, can see you last_

_I can't help but wish you don't_

_These thoughts are spinning 'round 'round in my mind_

_And I can't help but feel I'm outa time_

_And nothing feels right anymore_

_I'm stuck between bad and war"_

I decided to sing it in my head and play some notes with it. _It sounds…perfect._ It was too perfect.

Ikuto Pov

I got out of the shower and heard a piano playing, so I quickly dressed and peeked the door open to see Del playing piano on her tablet. She kept looking down at some papers she had on her bed and writing things down as she played. She didn't sing a word, but there were some written on the paper she had out. Sadly, I was too far to read them. _Silly, silly Odelle. Now I have to snoop._ It was an evil thought, but such a pleasant one. _But how will I get to them?_

**_Don't forget to reviews :D_**


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey peoples! Chapter 15 has arrived! I asked a few people to help me with it (two got back with me and gave me enough ideas...) so be looking for a lot of...interesting things that WILL be coming. I already have most of it planned out (however the heck I'm putting it all together is still a mystery to me...but I'm planning it xD) so yes, I hope you all enjoy this chapter :D**

Ch15

I put my papers away to a place Ikuto will never find them. Okay, it's just my pocket, but he'd never look there. If he did, he'd been in for a good old fashioned high five…in the face…with a chair. Okay, the chair is optional, but preferred. _What was I doing again? Right! Cleaning up!_ I continued to clean until I heard the door open and Ikuto came out. He was wearing black slacks and a white oxford. He also had his hair jelled back.

"Woah. What's up with the fancy get-up?" I teased, earning an eye-roll from Ikuto.

"I have my first concert at three. The orchestra finally decided I'm good enough to play with them. _Oh yeah. All those hours I walked alone or sat and watched TV or researched his father to try to gain information were done when he was practicing._

I checked the time to see it was nearing 2:30 and it was a 10 minute drive over, not to mention he had be a bit early for last minute practice. "Well, we better get going, huh?" He nodded so we left.

During the ride over, I felt watched again. Of course, it's the capital, so there's probably camera's in every direction, only partially tourist ones. There was definitely the whole sixth sense thing going on. It's insane sounding, I know, but it's like during class when you feel like you're being stared and someone looks away right as you looked at them. There's that sixth sense going on. Anyways, so I could just tell someone was watching us again.

"Del-chan?" Susu asked, obviously worried.

"Don't worry about her, Su. She's just being paranoid. I can't blame her though, after what she'd been through yesterday. I was shocked she even got out of the house." Ikuto piped in.

"I'm not being paranoid, and don't remind me." The rest of the car ride was silent as ever. Luckily, it was pretty short.

Once we arrived to our destination, I hugged Ikuto and big him a good luck, soon claiming my seat near the front. I was so excited to hear him play.

"_**This is where I'd escape and play my father's old violin. A couple of times Amu found me over here." He said getting a grin on his face. I didn't know why, but I felt a bit empty inside when he did this. I guess I was jealous that two guys were falling for Amu when I couldn't even get one guy to.**_

"_**So would you mind playing your violin for me someday?" I asked, trying to distract myself. I was faking a huge smile of hope. I realized I specialized in that.**_

"_**I'd love to. So tell me, why didn't you react when he said I was your boyfriend?" he asked suspiciously.**_

I chuckled at the memory. _He never did get a chance to play, did he?_ I thought and sat on the edge of my seat. People stared at me, obviously thinking I was some weird, first-timer kid. Which was true, I was all of those things, but I normally would at least be lying back in my seat and keeping my composure. This, however, was special. I was going to hear my best guy-friend play his violin in front of a giant crowd, and I was given a special seat because of it.

Just watching the practice was amazing. I watched as Ikuto quickly slipped through to his spot on the stage. After he unpacked and got into position to practice, he looked down to around my area and searched for me. It took him a while to find me, but when he did, a relieving smile came across his face. I gave him a thumbs-up; he nodded, and then got to work.

The concert was amazing! There was never one screw-up; if there was I didn't notice it. Right after it was done, I headed out and towards the back entrance and waited for Ikuto. And waited. And waited. … And waited.

"Oyyyy…" I said. "How long is he going to take?" It'd been almost two hours. He should be out by now. (Yes, I knew that because ¾ of the rest of the members had left already.)

Susu flew over to my face and asked, "Do you want me to go inside and check on him?" I pondered it a moment before nodding. She flew in once the next person walked out. After a few more minutes of waiting, I heard footsteps coming from behind me, plus the paranoia returned. (Before, it hadn't when there were footsteps.)

"You there." The voice who spoke was a bit husky. I looked around for the source, but I couldn't find it no matter how hard I looked. "You won't find me. Now, for your own and Ikuto's safety, which I witnessed you care a lot about, you need to stop searching for me."

"No." I wasn't going to quit searching for Aruto. Ikuto wouldn't either; he was stubborn. "We won't stop searching. Ikuto is far too stubborn, which he got from you apparently, and there is so way I'm missing out on any of this."

"Funny. You're different from other girls Ikuto had dated." To say the least, something shot the arrow of shock through my heart.

"First, we are _so_ not together. Ever. Second, weren't you gone since Ikuto was about eleven to, well, present day?"

"It would have been worse off for Ikuto if I had stayed. I owe some people things, but they still don't know about my children. Well, they didn't before the searching…"

"What do you mean?" This was all too confusing, and I was getting a bit scared.

"Those guys who came after you; they weren't Easter. They were going to take Ikuto as bait against me." I followed where the voice came from and saw him sitting in a tree-top. _So that's where he had escaped too!_ I couldn't feel too victorious, though; his expression was pained to no end.

"You know what happened the other day. I won't let Ikuto get hurt for whatever it takes. I promise I'll do my best to keep him safe."

"Your best might not be good enough," he said before hopping to a different tree and leaving. I just stood there completely flabbergasted.

"Odelle," Ikuto called from behind me.

"Oh, hi Ikuto. You did great tonight!" I reached up and gave him a big, strong hug, which he gladly returned.

Once we let each other go, he stated, "Sorry I took so long. My boss wanted to talk with me about something"

"Oh, not a problem. Let's get home and just relax; k?" He nodded and called over a taxi.

We got home and did just as said before; watched TV and relaxed. Well, Ikuto relaxed, but now I knew Aruto was basically stalking us somehow, so I was tense. I now knew I was paranoid for good reason.

Days went by and the feeling grew. We switched towns to Seattle (since that's where the orchestra was headed next), but no matter where I was, I felt watched. Ikuto started noticing my paranoia, but he assumed it'd go away pretty soon. It didn't though. Almost three weeks went by and I only felt more and more watched. It was messing with me knowing it was true, not just my imagination. Finally, Ikuto broke.

He lied down next to me and whispered into me ear, but still sternly, "Odelle, you need to relax. There is no one out there. It's all a figure of your imagination."

"Ikuto, I talked to him." I mocked his tone quite well. "He knows what happened that day in DC, he knows that the people who tried doing that weren't Easter, and he knows where we always are.

He sighed. "Here, let's try this." He went over and closed the blind, checked the room for any hidden cameras, and then lied back down. "Better?"

"A little bit…" I felt like an idiot. I had talked to Aruto, seen him, felt him even, but Ikuto, he just thought it was paranoia from the attack almost a month ago. He dealt with it, though. I was going completely insane, jitters and all, but he dealt with it.

Suddenly, while I was still lost in though, I felt two arms snake around me; one over my shoulder, the other rapping around my waist. Ikuto pulled me a bit closer to him, giving me a pink blush. "Go to sleep." he murmured. My heart was beating a mile minute, but I listened; closing my eyes and snuggling next to him. Sadly, It was a matter of moments before we heard a crash onto the ground from outside our window.

**Odelle: I FRICKEN TOLD YOU I WASN'T JUST PARANOID!**

**Ikuto: You're still paranoid.**

**Lily: Ah...I missed writing this part...XD Well, I'm supposed to be doing school, so enjoy this! please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I was having trouble figuring out how I'd put everything together. But I figured out how to get these two scenes to fit! :D I want to thank all of my reviewers for helping me out with encouragement on chapter 15. It really helped seeing that a lot of people were still reading ^^**

We ran over to the window and pried it open. When we looked outside, we saw Aruto lying on the ground with vines and a trellis on him. I looked up to Ikuto who was in 100% shock.

"Told you," I teased. I stuck my tongue out at him to make it very obvious I was trying to snap him back with humor. He gave a small chuckle, and then character changed, lastly jumping down to the ground.

"Susu, can we do that?" she nodded and character changed me. I was hesitant to jump, but I closed my eyes and landed right on my feet with grace. Once I was on the ground, I opened my eyes again and helped Ikuto get Aruto up.

"Those things aren't as sturdy as Hollywood makes them…" the old man said.

"No duh captain obvious…" Ikuto retorted. He was mad. Probably for a lot of reasons; but he was way mad. I gave him a slight nudge on the shoulder and glared at him. He got the message, but he wouldn't apologize since he was "too cool" for that. I turned back to the old man with a smile.

"You probably already know, but I'm Odelle Johnson." I gave a half-bow before popping right back up.

"Tsukiyomi Aruto." he said, also with a bow.

"It's a pleasure to meet you…officially." I looked at Ikuto who was still miffed. I rolled my eyes at him. "Excuse Ikuto and I a moment." I grabbed Ikuto's arm and pulled him quickly away.

"Yes mother?" he asked with an angry eye-roll. I stomped on his foot.

"STOP BEING SO RUDE!"

"Says the girl who just stomped on my foot…" he mocked. I lightly-ish slapped him on the head.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU HATE YOUR FATHER; YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT! HE IS HALF OF WHAT MADE YOU!" He finally got himself back to a straight position and glared at me.

"Who is older?"

"Do I look like I care? Besides, it shouldn't even matter. You _know_ what you're doing is wrong." He looked at me as though he were shocked. He soon lowered his head in shame. I gave a sad smile before reaching up and hugging him quickly. Once I plopped back down I gave him my signature it-will-be-okay smile. He returned with a relieved smile, as they all do.

"Let's head up to the room with your dad and…oh shoot…"

"What?"

"Why would your dad be climbing a trellis?"

"Security…" Ikuto said, starting to get it.

"You think we're the only ones who heard the crash?" This got his full attention so we ran over to him where he was struggling against 2 security guards.

"WAIT!" Ikuto and I yelled together.

"I'm a resident here! This here is my father so I demand you unhand him!" Ikuto yelled.

"Name?"

"Tsukiyomi Ikuto!"

"Is there a resident named Tsukiyomi Ikuto? Yeah? Thank you." the guard said into the walkie-talkie before turning to us. "We apologize." The men brought Aruto back to his feet and let him go. Once they were gone, Ikuto and I started to dust him off a bit. I couldn't help but notice Aruto smirk a bit, so I immediately stopped.

"So that's where he gets it from…"

"Hm?" both men asked with a smirk. It was kind of creepy.

"Woah, Aruto-sama is just an older Ikuto….who hadn't met me yet…"

"Sama?" both asked.

"Yes. He is an elder to me, so it's 'sama'. I think…" I started pondering through my honorifics.

"So… he's Aruto-sama and I'm just 'Ikuto'?" Ikuto was obviously a bit annoyed by this. "I could take this several ways."

"It just means that I automatically could tell we'd be friends. If you'd _like_ I could call you Ikuto-san." Aruto snickered a bit, earning a glare from Ikuto. Sadly, I was confused.

"Well, Ikuto, you're lucky she's blind." This confused me more. What did Aruto mean? I looked at Ikuto who was mildly blushing. I batted my eyes cutely and innocently at him, trying to break him into telling me. He just continued to look away with a blush on his cheeks, which annoyed me. A lot. It meant I couldn't get it out of him.

xxx

It's been nearly two months since we found Ikuto's dad. I can tell that there are questions Ikuto has tried to ask his father, but his dad wouldn't answer yet….like a more mysterious version of when a little kid asks where babies come from.

"Uh huh. Yeah. I'd love to. Thank you. Yeah. Uh-huh. Bye." Aruto said before he hung up the phone.

"What was that about?" Ikuto asked. Aruto smiled and cracked his knuckles.

"I was offered a job in playing the violin at the annual Crillon Ball in France."

"But you don't have a violin."

"Well, I gave you mine. I figured I could barrow it for a night."

"And what good would that do me?"

"Well you and Odelle here could accompany me."

"What makes you think we'd want to do that?"

"I can see it in your eyes." This made Ikuto freeze. His serious face turned into an all-out smirk.

"Deal."


	17. Chapter 17

**Okay, so I checked my stats this morning for the first time since I posted the last story and saw I had gotten FIVE reviews in about 12 hours. Thank. you. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Sorry the last chapter was kind of short, but I think you guys will like this one. ;)**

It's been four weeks since we got the invitation to the ball and three weeks since we arrived back to France. The last three weeks have also been full of violin music, since Aruto got the music he was playing just the day after we arrived. I can't wait for the ball next week. _Wait a second…_

"Ikuto, it's a ball, right? Fancy dresses, tuxedos, and all that crap?"

"Yeah…."

"Okay…What the heck will we be wearing?" Now he got it.

"Right. Well, let's go shopping." Before I could protest, he grabbed my hand and started dragging me. It felt like one little story Amu told me about, where he brought her to an old amusement park but while she was still eating a little Japanese pastry, he grabbed her hand and began to drag her towards some rides. It was exactly like that…only a busy street during the day in France. To say the least, we got stared at.

He finally brought me back to my feet once we were inside of the little shop.

"Bonjour. How might I help you today?" a cute little woman working at the shop asked.

"Hello, we will be attending the Crillon Ball, so would you mind helping us pick the proper attire?" Ikuto asked the woman. Her eyes widened as she glowed with excitement. I chuckled at her response as she quickly grabbed our hands and started picking out little dresses for me and tuxedos for Ikuto. Out of excitement, she even shoved us both into the same changing room. I thought it was funny how she was so happy about such a little thing, but then again, I'm not French. I finally stopped laughing, so I opened my eyes, only to see Ikuto taking his shirt off. Naturally, I put a hand over my eyes so I could still walk if needed, but I wouldn't see anything.

"What the heck are you doing?!"

"I'm changing in the changing room. Something wrong?"

"YES! I'M IN HERE BECAUSE OF HER MISTAKE!" I whispered loudly.

**-NOTE: I JUST MADE THIS UP. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT FRENCH CULTURE! Sorry if I offend any French people...^^'''-**

"It's not a mistake. In the French culture, they save room in the stalls by putting family and couples in the same stall."

"Okay, well we are neither so I'm using a different stall!" I tried for the door, but just before I could slip through, Ikuto grabbed my arm and pulled me so I close my back was at his bare chest.

"I really don't mind." he whispered in my ear. Chills went through my spine and I felt my head go three times heavier from the blood rushing into it.

"I really do mind." I whispered before slipping through and heading into a new stall. I decided to try the long, plain red silk dress with a slit that went up to my knee. I put on some black heels that were all straps. Literally, there were about four straps holding my foot down, but then it tied up my leg. It was a match made in heaven. I walked out elegantly and the girl who had helped me almost screamed.

"Oh mon Dieu! Tu es magnifique dans cette robe! Il est parfait sur vous! Oh, si j'étais le propriétaire du magasin si je vous le donne gratuitement, mais je ne suis pas le propriétaire donc j'ai encore besoin de vous charger ... Oh mon Dieu!"

"I don't know what the heck you just said but I think you like it."

"Oui oui, Madame! You look pretty pretty!"

"Merci coi pou."

"Oi, looks like your friend here agrees with me!" she said as she pointed at Ikuto. I turned around to see him near the bottom of a body check with wide eyes and a mouth moving like a sucker fish. He brought his eyes back up, but lingered a bit too long at the slit in the dress. Once his eyes were back to looking in mine, I gave him a light slap on the cheek.

"Perv."

"It's hard not to be when you look so gorgeous." As he said this, he put a hand on my hip and the other on the side of my neck while getting just a little bit too close. Just to be evil, he lightly pecked the tip on my nose. In all honestly, I could feel the red going up my neck and face like a thermometer's mercury. He smirked so I quickly snapped back, pushed him away, and turned my back on him.

"If this dress makes you all pervy I'll just pick a different one." It was just then I noticed all the guys outside the window who went from 12-35 standing there staring at me. "Never mind. All guys are bastards and I'm changing even you stop, Ikuto." I headed back into the stall, a highly confused Ikuto still trying to figure out what I meant. I decided that second best dress was a Cinderella-like ball gown. It was strapless heart-style the covered everything well and the top part was full of sparkles. On the bottom it had about twenty layers of long tulle (so it didn't poof too much). The top layer also had several sparkles, but it thinned out slowly between the top on the tulle and the middle. I paired it with plain white flats and a white ribbon for around the waist.

I walked out and once again, the woman there fawned over how perfect I looked. I turned to Ikuto who was once again speechless at first, but after he brought his eyes back to mine, a corner of his mouth slightly flicked upwards.

"You look like the princess you practically are."

"Please. Me? A princess? No way. I'm nothing like one."

"No, you are. You are kind, gentle, humble and caring; just like a princess should be." His eyes shined with something I've never seen in him before. I couldn't tell what it was, though.

Since I was so unaccustomed to compliments, my cheeks became pink as I mumbled, "Thanks. You look pretty nice yourself." As I looked in his eyes, I felt myself unwillingly get closer and closer to him. The second I realized I was, though, I snapped out of it and turned around.

"We better get out of these clothes and pay." I said a bit too quickly before shutting the door of my stall. _What the heck just happened?_

xxx

It's the night of the ball and us three are on our way over. It's so nervously exciting.

We arrived at the ball and were let in instantly. As soon as I took a quick sweep, I saw several men's eyes staring at me. I just rolled my own and linked arms with Ikuto. It might be better if it looks like he's my date.

"Well, you kids have fun. I'm going to go set up." With that, Ikuto and I were alone.

"Was this such a good idea?" I asked Ikuto with a hint of worry in my voice.

"Don't worry. I already recognize several faces here. Now, why are you linking arms with me, again?"

"Because while you know several people, I only know you and Aruto-sama and several guys are checking me out. The French bastards…" He chuckled at my little annoyance rant and started walking me towards a table.

"H-hello Ikuto-sempai." a girl who looked about Utau's age said. "W-would you like to dance? I mean, I hope not to be rude by asking you…"

"It's fine. Odelle, do you mind?"

"Odelle? I mean, obviously she's Odelle, but who is she to you?"

"I'm just a friend of his whelped him find his father."

"Oh okay. Well, shall we go."

"Indeed we shall." With that, the two left. I was completely alone in a crowded room.

"_Lately I don't even know what page you're on…So many things that I wish you knew; so many walls that I can't through. Now I'm standing alone in a crowded room and we're not speaking, and I'm dying to know is it killing you like it's killing me, yeah."_

"_**Odelle! Jake alert!" Susie pointed out. I turned my back to him and started playing with my over-sized grey sweater and pretended to be responding to Susie with words. "Okay, he sees you…and he's looking away. He's purposely ignoring you, that jerk! Oh, he's walking this way…and he's gone." I sighed and grabbed my ear buds.**_

"**How'd we end up this way? See me nervously pulling at my clothes and trying to look busy. And you're doing your best to avoid me…" 'Well this is just too real, Taylor. Thank you very much for making me feel a lot better about this. This is definitely the story of us…'**

"Hello there, Odelle." I heard a familiar voice say cutting off my thoughts, but I only knew who it was when I saw him.

"Tsukasa! What are you doing here?" I asked as I gave him a quick hug.

"A friend of mine asked me to come. What about you?"

"We _finally_ found Aruto-sama a few months ago and he got a job here playing the violin."

"Sounds like Aruto…Oh! Waiter! A white wine and water. Thank you."

"Merci." I said as well.

"So how has your tour been?"

"Good…for the most part."

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to know everything that has happened or just some things?"

"Everything." He looked in the corner of his eye a moment before putting a hand on my upper-mid-thigh and the other on my hands. He then became really close. "I apologize if I seem ungentlemanly for this, but there are grown men even older than I looking at you in even worse ways."

"Uh-uh Um. Uh-of course. So…where would you like me start?"

"The very beginning; when you first met Ikuto." I nodded and began to tell him everything. Absolutely everything. It took nearly an hour and a half to explain it all, and right as I finished, I heard a voice I thought I'd never hear again. Jake's.

"Delaware?" I didn't dare turn around. I didn't dare see him with that girlfriend of his. I just sat pin straight and eyes like saucers. I heard him step closer but then I remembered I had Tsukasa with me. I mean, he looks about twenty, so he could pull off being a five-year-older boyfriend. Yeah, perfect.

After making sure Tsukasa still had his hand on mine and a hand on my thigh, I turned back to Jake smiling. "Hey, Jersey Shore; what's up?" I made sure he could clearly see Tsukasa's hand placements, which gave Jake a slightly jealous look. _That's right; I gave heart-break Jake a jealous look._ I thought braggingly to myself. _I'll so need to tell Susie about this._

"Not much. So, uh, who's…"

"Oh, him? He's a good friend of mine who I met while on my _world-wide tour_. Tsukasa, this is Jake."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, sir." Tsukasa said as he removed his hand from my own and reached out to Jake. Jake swallowed bit nervously as he took Tsukasa's hand.

"Yeah, well, um. It was a pleasure to meet you too, but I probably need to, uh, get going. Talk to you later, Odelle."

"Bye." I said with a grin and tiny wave.

"I feel highly used right now." Tsukasa said teasingly.

"Sorry. If it helps, you probably just boosted my self-esteem by ten-fold." He chuckled a bit at this, causing a small laugh from me as well.

Tsukasa and I started talking and I became really grateful for the water he had gotten me. However, it had an odd taste to it. It was definitely water, but there was a peculiar taste in it as well, but I couldn't tell it what it was. However, I started becoming a bit bubblier and my words became slurred a bit.

"Whath the heel ith ib thi wather?" I asked Tsuakasa.

"Well, Ikuto is on his way back. I'll let you and him be alone." With that, Tsukasa was gone.

"Sorry it took so long for me to get back Odelle." Ikuto said as strolled over here. I giggled a little bit.

"Don'th warry bout ith, right?" I said with my head going everywhere before finally I looked him in the eyes. He was suddenly ticked.

"Odelle, were you drinking?"

"Nope." I said popping the 'p'. "Tsukasa bought me this water."

"What? Tsukasa was here?"

"Yup" I said, once again popping the 'p'. "He was really nice. He even pretended to be with me when Jake came along."

"Damn him…" he mumbled to himself before saying to me, "Come on. We're going." He grabbed my hand and started to pull me along-side him, which made me start to regain my senses a bit.

"Wait a second." I said with no slur what-so-ever. "Can I at least have one dance before we go?" He looked down to me as I gave him pleading eyes. A slight pink went on his cheeks before he rolled his eyes and put us in a dancing position. I gently laid my head between his neck and shoulder and we just danced for a bit.

"Alright, we need to go now." Ikuto whispered into my ear. I backed up and nodded, so we headed out.

Once we were back at the hotel, I checked the time to see it was nearing eleven. I quickly got into my pajamas, did a quick stretch, and got into bed, but not before one last thing since whatever was in the water hadn't warn off.

"Hey Ikuto."

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the fun night." I reached up and gave him a quick peck on the lips before disappearing into the bathroom.

**Hey, the little bit of lyrics before the memory and during the memory were from Taylor Swift's "Story of Us". I do not own that song since I am obviously NOT Taylor Swift...note the bit of song from like, chapter 6 or something where I was like "Oh who am I kidding, not til I get the fat cow!" so...yeah...PLEASE REVIEW! I especially want to see what you guys thought of this chapter ;)**


	18. And Everything Changed

**Thank you all of my patient viewers :DI am so so so so so so so so so so so so SO SORRY for the late update. HOWEVER! I think you guys will really love it! I made it a little bit longer as my apology gift ^^' (btw, this answers some unsolved questions some of you may have. It also has a memory thing, but I told at least one of you it was from the story but for the most part it isnt and yeah, I basically re-wrote this chapter in the last 2 days xD It's going to flow a lot better now ^^)**

Chapter 18

She kissed me. She _kissed_ me. _She_ kissed _me._ I smiled widely and proudly. I had to wonder though…what was that smell on her breath? Also, what made her so whacky earlier?

Normal Pov

-Earlier that night-

"Tsukasa, glad you could make it." Aruto stated warmly. Tsukasa bowed slightly.

"It's good to see you again."

"Took the words right from my own mouth."

"So what do you want this time?"

"I'm hurt, Tsukasa. Here we haven't seen each other for almost a decade and you think I want something of you." Tsukasa glared at him. "Fine. I need you to put this in my son's friend Odelle's drink. I'm pretty sure they are falling in love with each other but Ikuto…he doesn't seem to think she feels that way about him, and even she is unsure of her own feelings. This should get things pretty cleared up. Also, talk to her. A lot. I want to see if she has the Tsukasa stamp of approval for Ikuto, but don't let him see you. Can you do this for me?"

"I can, but what makes you think I _will_? I mean, this sort of thing is what got you in trouble in the first place."

"Yes, yes, I know. But I was meddling with other people's lives. This is for my son's benefit. If not for me, for Ikuto?" Tsukasa gave in with an eye roll and walked over to Odelle with the high-alcohol tablet. _This better work,_ he thought_ or else I might just have to hurt him._

Odelle Pov

Ikuto and I woke up that morning, but something seemed off about him. He kept meeting my gaze, smiling only slightly, and then looking away again. Finally, I broke.

"Okay, what the heck is up with you this morning?" I was getting really irritated, and I showed it in my voice.

He smirked. "You must have forgotten in your sleep." Now my eyes were wide.

"IKUTO WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!"

"I didn't do anything. However…" He bent over so his face was right next to my own. "You did kiss me." he whispered. _SAY WHAT?!_

"NO! NO! NO! I WOULD NEVER-"

"You did Del-chan." Susu said. "I saw."

"Susu… YOU LITTLE SNEAK!"

"I didn't make you do it, Del-chan! You did it on your very own!"

"No, because I am smarter than to do that. I am smarter than to fall for perverted cat boys. I am just…smarter than that!" I paused for a moment before awkwardly looking over to Ikuto, who I just emotionally killed. "Sorry." I squeaked. He blushed. _Wait a second…He blushed when Susu asked why he was happy about the idea…_ (A/N Re-read chapter 13 if you're confuzzled ;) )"Oh my gosh." I said as I put my hands over my mouth. He raised an eye-brow at me for a moment before realizing what I figured out. He smirked and walked up to me, bending over so our faces were just a bit too close for comfort.

"So you finally figured it out, Odelle."

**_"A big smirk appeared on his face before he looked back and nodded for the other three guys to leave_. S.H.I.T.**_** I thought. There were no other words fitting."** Those eyes…th-th-they're the same!_

Without even caring that I was still in my pajama bottoms and T-shirt, I shakily backed away before running out of the room.

"Susu, what just-"

"She's remembering things."

"What _kinds_ of things?" Instead of replying, Susu just put herself back in her egg. "Susu! Answer me!"

I kept running; remembering. Flashes of memories were going in and out quickly, only certain ones stopping.

**_"Jake, are you sure this is going to work?"_**

**_"Yeah, don't worry. Look, these idiots just need to be told off by someone, and if I tell them, I'm just going to be asking to die. However they wouldn't hurt a pretty girl like you, so it'll be okay." I blushed._**

**_"I, um…I guess I could…"_**

**_"Great, good luck." He gave me a small push towards the guys who were beating up the scrawny kid. I took a huge breath._**

**_"Hey!" They turned to look at me, a bit surprised a girl was standing up to them. "Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Now the main guy just snickered and walked over to me._**

**_"Listen now there, girly, how about you just run along and later I buy you a little something, alright?" His smirk made me want to puke._**

**_"I'm sorry; you must seriously be an idiot." His little buddies got a kick out of that. "I basically just told you to leave that guy alone. You know what basically means, right?" My smirk became pretty evident, however, Jake sat and listened with a giant wince._**

**_The guy grabbed the neck of my shirt and pulled me up towards him. "Hey now, _nobody_, talks to _me_ like that, got it?"_**

**_"Yeah, well nobody grabs the neck of my shirt either…" To explain myself better, I gave him the hardest kick I could to the shin. "…and that's why." I looked at his friends who were already running. I got the poor scrawny kid up and got him over to Jake._**

**_"Never put me in that position again." I said before taking the guy to a near-by café for some help from the workers._**

"That guy had the same eyes…" I said under my breath.

**_"Hey, you're the new kid, right?" a dirty-blond-haired boy asked me. He looked just a year older than me, of course, everyone in my grade did since I skipped a grade._**

**_"Yeah, uh, that's me." I said a bit sheepishly. I had been homeschooled since I was five, so I wasn't used to talking to…anyone._**

**_"Well, look, this is kind of awkward, but um, my friends over there dared me to ask you out assuming that you were one of those weird-looking homeschoolers who like, doesn't belong anywhere, but even though you're obviously highly attractive, they're making me do the dare so…" he trailed off since the rest of the sentence was obvious. In many ways I flattered yet highly offended. _Okay, so he just met me, said I'm pretty, and asked me out. He also said, however, that the stereotype for homeschoolers is weirdoes, which I'm not okay with. Also, what kind of idiot asks a girl out when he's hardly known her for five seconds?_ It was a hard decision, but I managed._**

**_"Well, why don't you and your idiot friends go and find some other desperate chick?" I remarked snidely. I could see his eyes widen for a second, a bit shocked that I responded like I did. I rolled my eyes and began towards my next class, but I quickly stopped by blonde. "Yes?"_**

**_"Well, I uh, I just… I'm Jake."_**

**_"Great, well, we need to get to our classes, Jake." I said before walking away again. However, when I was a few feet away, I slightly turned towards him. "I'm Odelle, by the way."_**

"It's a smolder? Oh my gosh, how the heck did I not see it sooner? God, I'm such-"

"Odelle?" _Kill. Me. NOW."_

"Jake, hi."

"Odelle, why are you…?" I looked at him a bit confusedly, before looking down at my clothes.

"It's a long story." I said when I finally looked up again.

"Right, well, you know, you've been acting different the last couple of times I saw y-oh my gosh!" He ran up to me and hugged me.

"Woah, Jake, what's up?" He took a small step back, putting his hands on my shoulders.

"It's that Tsukasa guy, right? Were you that desperate for a guy you've been doing that kind of stuff, but you had a fight so you ran off just in your pajamas?" My mouth fell open wide. _Me and Tsukasa? How could…oh…yeah…_ I began to chuckle which soon grew into an all-out laugh.

"Oh my gosh! I had totally forgotten. Jake, Tsukasa and I…pfff…never…" I laughed even harder before finally stopping. "You always did come with the craziest stuff. Anyways, no, that's not what just happened. Heh. Me and _Tsukasa_ being together…"

"Wait, then what was with…?"

"I told you he was a friend of mine I met on my world tour. That statement was 100% true." He became pretty flushed.

"Okay, so I was wrong on my first assumption…So what's the real reasoning?"

"Eh…It's a…long story…" He gave me his signature 'go on' look. "No I will not continue."

"Oh come on. Really? You were my best friend for nearly a year! Can't you just trust me to know?"

"No, because I can tell you've changed, and you can bet your Babe Ruth baseball I've changed a lot." _Oh great. Brain, can you stop thinking for just a minute? _"So what are you doing here anyways?"

"Dammit…" I backed up a few steps. _He never swears._ "Why did you have to ask that?" Before I could react, there was a white cloth over my nose and mouth. Things quickly started to get blurry, but I tried forcing myself not to breathe and to stay awake. I couldn't do it. "I'm sorry, Delaware" was the last thing I heard.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUN! Please review with all of the questions you still ahve so I can A. Torture you more next chapter (;P) or B. Answer it next chapter. ^^**

**Ikuto: You're so evil...you make them wait all this time and THIS is what you do to them?**

**ME: Well of course. What else would I do?**

**Jake: I am so proud. :')**

**Odelle, Ikuto, Me: OH STHU!**

**Me: Again, please review XD**


	19. Chapter 19

Sorry this chapter is really short! I really just wanted to end it where it was because it was just such a perfect spot, plus I couldn't think of much else to add... so...yeah. I hope you enjoy :D

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"Ikuto…" Susu said when she felt something was wrong.

"Hm? What is it Susu?" Tears pricked at her eyes.

Her weak little voice cracked as she said, "They have her."

_-Back to where Odelle is-_

I woke up tied to a chair. _Very original._

"Well, I see you're awake." an all too familiar voice said. Yup, out from the shadows came the very person I hate most, but still have not a name for.

"Oh great, if it isn't the wicked witch of the west." I said, trying to remain cool even though I was actually wanting to coward in fear at the very sight of him.

_He grabbed the front of my robe and pushed me onto one of the beds before taking off his jacket, removed his tie, and partially unbuttoning his shirt. Once he did such, he got on top of me and started kissing my neck fiercely._

"I see you do remember me." he stated as he put both hand on the arms of the chair. I wished I could smack that smirk from his face.

"Well it's hard to forget the man who tried molesting me."

"Oh, no need to be that way." he said as he traced my jaw line. I quickly brought the chair away from him.

"_Don't_ touch me." _Oh great. Wise move there, Del._ I thought as I saw a bigger smirk form on his face.

"So that's your weak point, ay?" He took a step towards me again, but an arm pulled him back.

"You said you wouldn't hurt her." the _other_ all too familiar voice said.

"Silly little Jacob." The man ripped himself from Jake's grip. "I never said anything about having a little fun." Jake's eyes narrowed as he went for a punch, only to be hit harder by Witch.

"Stop!" I yelled without even thinking. Witch smirked down at Jake.

"Another weak point, hm?" He sent a hard kick to Jake's side. "Tell me Jake, what do you think she'd do to keep you safe?" He enunciated each word like a ten year old, but I could fell the evil dripping from every word.

"What made you like this?" I found myself thinking out loud. His hands grew into fists and his smirk fell into a disgusted frown.

"That _idiot;_ Aruto _Tsukiyomi._" He said the name as though it were a poison. "Being the meddlesome creature he is, he drugged my entire restaurant, brought me out of business, _and_ was never even brought to a court. What he didn't realize are all the guys I have under me. You see, the restaurant was my career, but I had…a hobby. However, once the restaurant was taken down, my hobby became my life." Once again the smirk was in place.

"And this hobby?"

"A mafia of sorts."

"Oh, yes, of course. You see, I hate you more and more with the more you talk."

"Ah, ah, ah. I wouldn't say those sorts of things." He pushed/kicked Jake again.

"Why are you attacking him because of Aruto-sama?!" I practically screamed.

"Because, you can get me to Aruto, but I need to find a way to get you to cooperate. Now that I have two ways of punishment, we can get down to business."

xxx

"Ikuto, what do you mean she just vanished? You let her be alone?"

"I didn't think it'd be so bad, Aruto!"

"Well this is just awful…God if I could turn back the time now…"

"Well you can't and now Odelle is in trouble!" Ikuto snapped.

"Calm down-nya!" Yoru commanded. "We're going to save her-nya!"

"Exactly." Susu agreed. "We can't be getting angry or we might let emotion get in the way of proper thinking."

"She's right, Ikuto." Aruto stated calmly.

"Fine, but Aruto, you have to know _something._" Ikuto was almost begging, and Aruto couldn't help but smirk.

"Well of course I know something. How you expect anything less?"

xxx

"No! I just... NO! I WON'T! I…I can't…"

"You can, and you will."

Without thinking I asked, "Who are you?"

"Andrew Snyder." (A/N Random name I came up with. If your name is or if you know someone named Andrew Snyder, I mean no offense to your name!)

"Well_, Andy,_ what makes you so sure?"

"Did you alright forget that I know your two weakest points?" he asked as he made a line with his finger from the middle of my collarbone down my sternum. I felt chills go through me, but I couldn't do anything to stop him.

"When the cops arrest your ass…God I can only look forward to that you sicko!" I let the venom drip out. I didn't hold anything back. Big mistake. Within seconds there was a red mark across my right cheek and I spat out blood.

"S, what the hell are you doing?" Jake yelled from the other side of the room.

"Oh shut up!" both Andrew and I yelled. We both stopped as soon as we said it, and while he turned to look at me again, I hung my head in shame.

"Well, maybe we have one thing in common." He was so snarky it sickened me.

"Oh shut up you jackass! You don't know anything about me, especially not anything involving Jacob."

"I know he has a big place in your heart, and that's really all I need to know."

"Before you start making assumptions that we have something in common, you seriously need to know more." I mumbled with a slight hope he wouldn't here.

"But that's not near as fun." he whispered back. Gently, he placed a thumb on my cheek and the rest of the fingers on my neck. Slowly he massaged my cheek with his thumb, smiling triumphantly since he knew I couldn't do anything about it. After a few moments, he stopped rubbing my cheek and put his entire hand on the side of my neck. "Now, will you or will you not bring Aruto to me. I'd hate to do this sort of thing in front of someone else."


	20. Chapter 20

To start of...**HAPPY TWO-MONTH ANNIVERSARY!**That's right! It's been two months since I first posted "The perfect stranger" ch 1! :D So, as my gift to you viewers, here is ch 20! (btw, this is like...super-sexual right here, so just a warning...and you also will probably hate me after this...)

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Chapter 20

Ikuto Pov

We ran and searched every place Aruto thought we'd find her, but there was no sign of her. After two days, we gave up and went back to our hotel room.

"Ikuto!" I heard the most wonderful voice say when I walked in. She reached up and gave me a giant hug which I returned doubly.

"Odelle! Where were you?"

"I assume Susu told you, but those guys that are after Aruto kidnapped me. However, they didn't really expect me to fight back at all, so they only had one weak guy there. What idiots, huh?" I took a step back and just looked at her, unknowingly placing a hand on her neck. After a few moments, we both broke and kissed. We just…kissed.

"Alright, kiddoes, you can do that another time. For now, Odelle, tell us everything you did in order and detail." Aruto was being so cold. I gave him a glare which he returned with an emotionless face. Once I looked back to Odelle though, I saw her giving him the same look, only she had a ping of guilt in her face.

"Odelle…"

"Ikuto, be quiet. Please, please, please." She began to shake and I could tell something was wrong. I looked at Susu, but she was now beginning to shrink into her egg.

"Odelle, what did you do?" I asked just a millisecond before Susu became an X-egg.

"I made a bad deal. I am so sorry." She looked over to the now cracking egg. "Susu, character transformation." The new Susu smirked and nodded. "My heart: unlock." A dark sphere surrounded Odelle for a split second as she turned into a very…not-Odelle-like costume. She now had red hair and a purple one-piece that barely, _barely_ covered when she was standing. She had purple cat ears and a tail; all accompanied by above-the-knee 5 inch boots and black pantyhose. To be honest, I quite liked her outfit, but I knew it wasn't her.

"Character transformation: Dark Love." She did a…sexually attractive pose that even my own father found to be a bit…appealing. She had on a flirtatious grin and gracefully hopped over to…Aruto?

"Nya, Ar-ru-to." She was seducing my father. The girl I grew to love was trying to seduce my father. _No, that's not really her… Don't think that!_ I shook my head and became black lynx, but she wasn't fazed at all.

"Del, get away from him!" I yelled, breaking the trance she was putting Aruto in. While I was lost in thought, I hadn't realized exactly how into it he was getting. He had his hand just two inches lower, on her waist, from touching her…breast. It was quite sickening actually.

She smirked at me and turned back to my father, effortlessly stretching up and kissing him, which, after he was used to the shock, gladly returned. _A fifteen year old girl is kissing my forty-five-year-old father…and he's kissing back. Not to mention I'm in love with her. Oh they are both dead._ Once I was used to the betrayal I felt, I raised my claws and began going forward. _It's not her. It's not _really_ her._ I was about to strike, but she gave me a terrified look, stopping me in my tracks. Well, okay, instead of slicing them I ran into the wall, but same difference.

"Come on, Aruto. Let's go somewhere more…private?" she asked. It was just then I noticed the sparkles. _She had a seductive powder in this form…That makes me despise my father so much less now._ Sadly, since he was still under her spell he listened and let her pull him away. I recovered from my hit with the wall and ran out after them, only to see her putting his arm around her and jumping away. I followed her lead but before I could follow far, I lost them.

Odelle Pov

_-Just six hours earlier-_

"Gah! Get away from me!" I struggled to the best of my ability, but ended stripped down to the underwear right in front of Jake, who was being held back by three guys for good reason.

Andrew began playing with one of my bra straps as he whispered in my ear, "I'll give you one last chance. We can either continue our fun right now, or you can get Aruto for me." I shook in rage of what he wanted and then fear of what I knew was to come.

"No." His face grew red with anger as he punched me down onto the ground. However, his face soon softened into an evil smirk.

"What about for your dear mother? I'm sure she told you of her cancer."

"W-w-what?"

"She didn't tell you? She's been diagnosed for three months now with leukemia. but oh, that's right, she didn't want to worry you and have you come back from your loads of fun. However, she is due for death within…a week."

_It's my mom. I should see her one last time. But Ikuto and Aruto…but mom…Ikuto…mom…Ikuto…_ "Fine." I finally said. I began shaking. I realized just after I said it that I made a deal with the devil.

* * *

I feel so dirty after writing this! I'll try really hard not to make it so...bleh. Also, sorry it was a bit short ^^'BUT! OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG Oh. Ehm. GEE! WE HAVE 1000+ VIEWS! BOO to the YA! (lol, random sorry XD) SO THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOUS!


	21. Chapter 21

**Yo! I've only gotten ****_TWO_****reviews from last chapter. To think...I specially finished it for the anniversary Oh well, we're now at 1100+ views, so that kind of made up for it ;) but PLEASE please review! Even you guests that I know for a fact have been keeping track of my book! You guys can review too! all you have to do is type it, and if you plan to review again now that you know how (because I'm so awesome to tell you how ;P) you can put some random name it (don't make it like, super bad cuss word sort of deal though, because then it just...ick. It ruins the review. But if ur mad at a character, feel free to call him/her jackass or something XD) Anyway, sorry about my rambling xD**

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Chapter 21

"Come on Ar-ru-to." I said as cutely as I could. We were almost there, but because this was the first I've transformed at all, I had no control of my sed-dust-ive. (Dorkiest name ever for a weapon, I know.) In other words, he was getting impatient, which was so creepy considering he could be my dad.

Finally after such a bone-chilling amount of time with a guy who seriously is under a lot of sed-dust-ive, we arrived back at the base for Andrew.

"We're almost there, nya~" I pulled him into one of the cells and pushed him onto the bed.

"That's enough, Odelle." Andrew said from behind me. I snapped my fingers so Aruto was snapped out of it and went over to Andrew's side, posing as though I was with him now. He followed my lead and put a hand on my waist.

Aruto's look was priceless. The memories all coming back to him at once, but not just of the last hour. "Andrew…Odelle…"

"Uh shut it, pervert! You know, that powder only works if you found me attractive in _that_ way before the powder." The old man laughed awkwardly.

"You _are_ a very attractive girl. You can't blame a lonely man."

"Yes, I can." He sighed.

"Now, what happened to you and Ikuto! You seemed like you really loved him and cared!"

"Ikuto? Honestly?" I laughed bluntly before continuing with a smirk, "Who could _possibly_ love _him_? He's a pervert! Just like his father. Not to mention he doesn't even do anything for me." _Lies. All lies…other than the pervert part. The two really are perverts._

"Come, darling, let's discuss future arrangements." I kept smirking at Aruto as I left, but I hoped the true sadness I felt was coming through. Once the door was shut, I returned to normal and saw Susu was in the same outfit I was just in, only chara-sized.

"Alright, I did what you asked. Now send me to see my mother!"

"Right, well you see, we made that arrangement before I found out how amazing you looked with red hair and an outfit like that of which you previously had." A low growl escaped my lips.

"WE HAD A DEAL!"

"Did we? I thought part of the deal was to see your mother _with cancer_?"

"You lied to me?"

"Of course I did. If I didn't, you wouldn't have gotten Aruto and I couldn't be getting you to do a little show for me and the crew tomorrow.

"Show? I'll die first thank you." I turned to go, but two guards blocked my path.

"We can arrange that."

Ikuto Pov

How could I have let her do that? I should have _known_ something was off! I mean, she was gone for almost three days and then suddenly she's back and says she beat the guard! I'm such an idiot!

"Ikuto~" I heard a familiar voice say. I turned around to see Susu was trying to squeeze herself under the door of the hotel room. I pulled her in, but dangled her by the feet.

"Where is she? Where is that lying-"

"Ikuto! Do you not notice I'm dark now?! This is the reaction she expected from you! Prove her wrong and let me show you where she is!"

"And why should I trust you?"

"Because Odelle is in big trouble, and just…" Susu explained everything that she knew, which from the conversation between Andrew and Odelle, was a lot.

"So Odelle thought her mother was dying, so that's why she made a deal with them." He let the little chara go. "Now they basically want to use her for entertainment?" Susu nodded. "Those sick minded…Yoru! We're going! Where to, Su?"

Odelle Pov

If Susu doesn't get back here _now,_ I'm dead. Literally, they will shoot me in the arms, the legs, the stomach, before finally the head. I'm just…I have no hope right now. I don't know where the heck she went, but she better be back here-

"Odelle!" I heard her cute little voice say.

"Susu! You're here! Finally! Okay, phew. My heart-"

"No." My eyes opened wide as I looked over to see Ikuto as Black Lynx. My hands went over my mouth and tears of guilt and agony dripped from my face.

"I am so sorry, Ikuto. I am so, so, so sorry. You have no idea how-"

"Don't worry. Susu told me about how they lied to you. I honestly can't say I'd do any different."

"I'm glad. So…do you want me to go back home after this or shall we continue as before?"

"Before is out of the question. Before, you and I were just friends." My face turned red as I knew what he meant by that.

"Odelle, two minutes!" Somebody called from the other side of the door to the changing room.

"What do we do?" I asked. Ikuto smirked.

"We give them a show."

I walked onto the stage in my transformation and grabbed the mike that was on the side. Soon, the lights beamed on and I saw Ikuto out on the edge of the crowd.

_"Got a one way ticket down a two way street_

_Got the wind in my hair and the dust on my feet_

_I'm just trying…to make it in America_

_Only thing to my name is an old t-shirt_

_Faded 1985 from a Stones' concert_

_And I'm dying…to make it in America_

_And I'm singing the words to my favorite song_

_With the rag top down and my glasses on_

_And I'm driving…straight through America_

_I wanna taste the sun!_

_'Cause baby I'm born to run!_

_I got the feeling that I'm not the only one_

_I, I wanna show some skin_

_Baby I need the ocean_

_And you can't stop me now I've got my heart in motion_

_I wanna make it in America_

_Make it in America_"

I continued to sing and dance along the stage, throwing in some poses here and there. Finally, when the lights went out after that song, Ikuto came and grabbed me, getting the heck out of there.

"Come on! Aruto's cell is this way!" I said once we were completely out of ear shot. We made our way to the cell, unlocked it, and opened it, only to find Aruto with a gun in his hand. The problem was not that the run was at us, but at him.

"Aruto!" I yelled, getting his attention.

"Ikuto! You found me!" He yelled, putting the gun in his pocket and ignoring my existence.

"Yes, and we need to go _now._" Aruto nodded and the three of us ran for the front door, but were stopped by Andrew and six other guards.

"Tsk, tsk, Odelle. I could have offered you so much."

"LIAR! All you wanted was to rape me and break me!"

"I would give you things in return."

"Could you give me back the stolen dignity?" He smirked.

"And this is why I love having you around. You have a spark Odelle." He leaned in close to my face. "I like that." Just so we're clear, he deserved this.

Without even thinking, I used every last bit of my strength to punch him hard in the face. I heard a crack coming from his face and watched as blood poured out from it.

I was satisfied, to say the least.

Ikuto and began fighting off the guys with guns as Aruto finished off Andrew. He had a lot to give to that guy, too. Finally, we were able to escape and I made sure Aruto and Ikuto got out first before running after them. The only bad thing was almost as soon as I reached the outside world, a hand grabbed be and yanked me back.

"You are NOT GOING ANYWHERE!" Andrew yelled, still doubled over a bit.

"Oh yeah?" I kicked him where it hurts. "I hope that causes you to not have kids." I broke my hand free and jumped away towards Ikuto and Aruto, who waited for me at a near-by rooftop.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

"After he stripped me down in front of Jake, not to mention the other crap he put me through, I didn't enjoy it enough."

"He _what?!_ Wait, why was Jake-"

"He's like me. He got into a bad deal. I don't blame the poor guy. I won't trust him ever again, but I don't hate him. Hating him will only hold me back." With that said, I jumped off towards the hotel again.

"And this is why I love that girl."


	22. Chapters 22 and 23

**Hey guys! I'm back now! :D Anyways, you may be wondering why I put two chapters in one, but it's because they are definitely two different chapters, but you have to read both or else chapter 22 just seems stupid. I mean ****_really_**** stupid. So, before you judge 22, read 23 please ;) **

Chapter 22

Three weeks. It has been three weeks since I was rescued. Even though I know this, I can't help but feel…off? Yeah, that word works well, I suppose.

Anyway, so to catch you guys up, three weeks ago I was kidnapped, was forced (kind of) to bring that idiot Andrew and his mafia Aruto, and then saved by Ikuto. Susu had also turned X for a little while, but two days after I was rescued she went back to normal.

A week and a half ago. Now that's when it gets interesting. That's when Ikuto officially asked me out (I nearly died of pure joy) and we decided for today to be the first real date.

Where am I now? I'm in London in the bathroom of our hotel room getting ready. (Do NOT get any twisted ideas. We're not that kind of couple.) Ikuto is just outside in the sleeping area also [getting] ready. I take one last look at myself to be sure I'm done.

"Long sapphire blue dress, black flats, curled hair, nice make-up…Okay, Del. You can do this." I knock on the door and here Ikuto say I can come out. When I do, he looks at me like I was Jennifer Lopez or something.

"You don't look too bad yourself." I tell him. He laughs at my silly American ways and we head off towards the restaurant.

After we eat, we decide to go for a walk through the town and I can't help but notice a certain blue-haired old guy keeps popping up.

"We're being followed." I whisper over to Ikuto. He takes a small look back and sees Aruto as well.

"What do we do?"

"Well, A. We give him something to really look at, (Now you can think your little pervy thoughts. Dang…Ikuto is rubbing off on me…) or B. go up to him or even C. All of the above."

"I really like the sound of options A and C…" I rolled my eyes at his openness, but smiled none-the-less. I took a breath, wrapped my arms around his neck as he put his arms on my waist, and ta da. I got my first real kiss. (I hardly count the one front just over three weeks ago since I don't really remember it because I was drugged by someone…and then Aruto was just…bleh.) We both melted into it and before long, I felt a small lick of my bottom lip, asking for more. I pulled away for just a moment.

"Don't be greedy." I then brought my lips back to him and after a few more moments, we broke apart. We kind of needed air.

"That was…nice." he said and I could tell he was fighting a blush. Being my giddy pink self, I decided to completely foil that plan and kiss him on the cheek, causing him to explode and his face became bright red. We both just sat there smiling like idiots until his dad came over.

"You knew I was watching and that's why you did that huh?"

"Not really. We just needed and excuse to." This got him to laugh.

"Alright. well, I'm going to go now so you two can really have a nice date. Take care." With that, Aruto left and Ikuto turned to me.

"Now, I have one last gift for you, but you have to put this on." He handed me a blindfold and I looked at him skeptically. "Don't worry. Just trust me, alright?" I reluctantly took the blind fold and put it on.

Finally, we arrived at our destination and he took me inside. "Alright, blind fold off." I did so and my eyes widened as I realized where I was.

"This is a singing competition. This is _the_ X-Factor UK. Why are we here?!" He smirked at my ignorance.

"I've heard you sing, Del. I actually signed you up two nights ago and you're the last contestant to try out."

"Odelle Johnson, you're next on the stage." a man called.

"I don't have anythi-" I looked and saw the masks somebody was holding. They were the symbol of all drama, Comedy and Tragedy. "Never mind. I got something." I ran towards the person with the two masks.

"I'm sorry. My boyfriend set me up so I didn't have really much prepared, but could I use your masks? I'll give them back right after!" The woman smiled at me and nodded.

"It gave me good luck! Maybe they'll do the same for you!" I nodded with one last thank you and headed for the stage. I nodded to the judging table and I couldn't help but want to die as I saw one of my judges was _Simon._ _Oh yay…He'll either hate me or love me._ I took in front of the microphone, making sure it was proper height.

The other three (who I didn't know the names of; thank you very little Ikuto) seemed pretty impressed while Simon just rolled his eyes.

"Look, you're darling, but we're all very tired. Could you just let us vote now so we can go home?" The crowd booed Simon, but he just rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. What's your name, girl?"

"Odelle Johnson. I'm 15 years old and I've been travelling the world with a friend of mine for about 9 months now." The crowd cheered.

"Wow!" one of the girls said. "Impressive. So tell us, what will you be doing for your talent?"

"I'll be singing a song I wrote. It will be a cappella."

"Alright. When you're ready." the other guy said. I took a deep breath, playing the music in my head and became ready. _It's a good thing these masks are cardboard._

_"Everyone laughs_

_So put on comedy"_

I put the mask in front of my face the microphone, so that way I was still singing right, but the message went through.

_Everyone's hurt_

_So put on tragedy"_

Same with Tragedy.

_"Even when you_

_You don't feel a thing"_

I put both masks down, seeing Simon became intrigued. I could feel a bit of ease go over me.

_"Here comes the show_

_Pretend like_

_You really know_

_What the song feels_

_When really inside_

_You want to hide_

_But baby tonight_

_It's a masquerade_

_Everyone stars_

_In this world of hate_

_You forget who you are_

_In the masquerade…"_

I could feel tears threatening to fall.

_"So come_

_I'll tell you what it's like_

_Don't run_

_Cause those like me cannot hide_

_Because here…_

_It's a masquerade_

_Everyone stars_

_In this world of hate_

_You forget who you are_

_You're a puppet on strings_

_Forced into things_

_This is not what it's supposed to be_

_You're a puppet on strings_

_Forced into things_

_This is not what you thought it would be_

_In the masquerade_

_Everyone stars_

_In this world of hate_

_You forget who you are_

_In the masquerade_

_People try to show you up_

_But you don't feel pain_

_Not until you're gone"_

I used both masks to hide my face for a moment before continuing.

_"Everyone laughs_

_So put on comedy_

_Everyone's hurt_

_So put on tragedy_

_Even when you_

_You don't feel a thing"_

The crowd roared and the judges looked at me like I was insane, but they were smiling, so it was a good insane.

"Wow. Just…wow." one of the girls said. I couldn't help but smile. "So tell me, how long did you practice that song before you came in here?"

"W-well… my friend and I were going out to look at London and he told me he had a surprise. He made me put a blind fold on, trust him, and he brought me here. I honestly didn't know until about two minutes before the performance."

"Wow." they all said together.

"So, how about we begin voting, now that we've decided that she's AMAZING." the other chick said. I really wished Ikuto had told me the God-dang judges' names before I came on here!

"It's a yes from me." Simon said.

"Yes." the girl next to him said.

"One hundred percent yes!" the other chick all but screamed.

"That's four yesses! We'll see you again soon!" I almost scream at hearing this. I quickly wave good bye and rush off, jumping into Ikuto's arms.

"Great job, Odelle. You did good."

"Thanks. You did good, too. I literally wouldn't be here without you." I gave him a peck on the lips before we left (of course after returning the masks). Without even knowing it, our hands were linked and it just felt…right.

Chapter 23

It's six in the morning here in London, two weeks after I auditioned, and my phone is ringing.

"I'm going to kill somebody…" I say as I reach for my mobile devise. "Su, this _better_ be importa-"

"OMG YOU ROCKED X-FACTOR UK! OMG! HOW COME YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU COULD SING?!" I held the phone away from my ear as she yelled.

"What the…what are you talking about?"

"IT'S ALL OVER FACEBOOK AND YOUTUBE AND TWITTER! HOW COULD YOU NOT KNOTICE IT?!" I felt a blush creeping onto my face as I remember the last few nights of just walking with Ikuto and kissing very heavily in the park and stuff like that. (No. Not _that_ that. Just no…)

"…I was busy…"

"Uh huh. Lip-locking with Ikuto?" I felt my temperature rise even more-so. "I knew I saw sparks! I knew it, I knew it-" I could see her doing her "I was right, uh huh. I was right" dance.

"Oh shut it!" I hissed. "Look, I am tired. It is six in the freaking A.M. where I am. I. Need. Sleep." I ended the call and fell face first back onto my pillow.

"Susie?" Ikuto asked. I nodded.

"Best friends are annoying."

"Thanks?" he questioned, so I sat up.

"You are different. Yes, you annoy the crap out of me, but you always make it up. With her, she's annoyed the crap out of me all this time, yet somehow we still manage to be friends."

"You have no idea how much you inflated my ego just then, do you?"

"It was already huge." I lay back down, having my back to him. Big. Mistake. Within moments, I felt two arms snake around me and pull me close to a body. "Ikuto, go back to your own bed."

"But my bed is so cold, and you're so _hot._" I shivered at him saying that.

"Ikuto, you and I both know I'm not hot." He turned me over so I looked at him.

"You're right. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life." I went scarlet as I looked into his midnight blue eyes.

Not knowing what to say, I went to my automatic tone. "J-just g-go to bed…" I turned away from him and I felt like a bitch. He was being an awesome dude who just called me super beautiful, and I tell him to go away. _IDIOT! ODELLE, WHY YOU NO SMARTER?!_ I thought. _I don't know!_

"Sorry, but _I know you too well._" he whispered. I turned back to him with a big happy smile on my face.

"Yes, you do. Now, go. To. _Your._ Bed." I began burning a hole through him with my eyes, but I kept the smile on my face to give it that slightly creepy effect.

"You're evil, you know that?"

"Yeah…I know." With that being said, I pushed him off the bed and watched as he fell on his bottom. Once he looked up at me with an annoyed expression, I stuck my tongue out at him.

_Knock. Knock. Knock._ Ikuto and I turned our heads to the door, and I quickly scurried out of bed to look through the peep hole.

"Hello? Odelle Johnson?" a man's voice said. I grabbed one of the hotel robes and acted like I just woke up.

"Yes?" I asked with a yawn as I opened the door.

"Hello, I'm sorry to get you up, but I was hoping we could do a small interview. You were so amazing of Britain's got talent that we wanted to get some questions answered. This could even become a job interview, since we have some close conne-"

"Okay, hold on one second. You got me up at 6 in the morning while I'm still in my pajama's to do an interview and maybe offer some frickin jobs when I'm still only 15?" I raised an eye-brow at them, causing them to sway nervously.

"Yes; I suppose you could say that." Without another word, I shut the door and locked, pausing for a moment and undoing what I had just done.

"Wait! I said as the people were walking away. "Come back here and wait in the café area at about one. I can be ready by then." The woman nodded excitedly and got a skip in her step as she walked. I laughed as I rolled my eyes and walked back into the hotel room.

"Hey, Ikuto?" He looked up to me. "I have the weirdest feeling I'm going to regret auditioning…"

xxx

"So tell us, when did you first develop your love of music? the woman asked, ignoring the crowd that hovered around us.

"I don't really know. I've always listened to music and used it to help my mood become better, but it was in fifth grade where I truly developed the passion for it. That's actually about when I wrote my first _real_ song, even though it sucked _so_ bad." This got a few laughs from around the crowded room.

"I can imagine. The first always seems to be the worst, am I right?"

"No way. I've written far worse since then, just not as frequently." More laughter…

"How fun. Now what was your schooling like?" That hit home with me. I bowed my head a bit.

"Well…I was never really popular, but everyone knew me. I was, and still am, a very naïve person, so… I trusted too many people too much, I guess. I was also a people pleaser and loved everyone, so if I didn't like people, everyone knew they were trouble, not that they always listened. Everything was pretty good for a while until I started homeschooling in fifth grade. I lost over 4/5 of my friends that year.

"In sixth grade, I went to a free private school. The only people I knew were my best friend and a girl I had briefly met once in fourth grade. I got pushed throughout the halls; I knew people made of me from behind my back. On the first day, one girl didn't even both to do it behind my back. It was awful.

"What really got me was just barely through second semester after I managed to make another friend, my _best_ friend left me. She just ditched the group without a word. I went into a phase of depression. It was super severe, but I pushed myself from everyone without even trying to. By the beginning of the fourth quarter, I was left with one person." I looked up to see people faces and found they all had pity. However, I smiled at them. "It's funny how things work out, though. I went back to home school part way through seventh grade, regaining some self-confidence I had lost. In seventh grade I had made a few more friends than before and was actually pretty well known again, but I just…I knew I didn't belong at that school anymore.

"Almost exactly one year later I started going to a public school where I met my best friend Susie and a guy who…for a while was one of my closest friends. We've since grown apart, but a while ago he did something really awful, making it...mostly up later. Now, I'm happy with my life and I wouldn't change a thing." I looked at the interviewer who was sobbing like crazy.

"S-s-so wh-wha-what would y-you say to any of those p-people at th-the free private school?"

I thought for a moment and looked at the camera. "I forgive you. I was weak, chubby, weird, clumsy…Everything joke worthy. We were young and while I still have some scars, I forgive you." I smiled and looked back to the reporter.

"Such an inspiring young girl. You are going to be the girl everyone wants to be, do you realize that? You're such the role model." I blushed at her compliment.

"I'm not a role model. I'm still that shy, geeky kid in the back of the room. It just so happens I finally met someone who gets me to be…more than that, on the occasion." I glanced over to Ikuto and winked before looking back at the woman.

"Well, since we've gone through some more serious stuff, why don't you tell us who your musical influences are."

"Taylor swift and Britt Nicole, definitely. Um…some Maroon 5, but not much. There's one Bruno Mars song, 'What friend are supposed to do' I think is the name… After that I can't really think of much. Oh, and a bit of Avril Lavigne."

"Anyone else?"

"Not really. I mean, not that I know of. It's possible I heard some song on the radio at Kohl's or something but I just don't remember the name of it or any lyrics…basically anything except the beat." Once again, the entire room laughed.

"I love how naturally cute you are! Well, we're a bit out of time, but I seriously hope to see you again." I nodded and waved at the camera. Once the blinking red light stopped, the woman gave me a hug.

"You did such a great job, honey!" She brought herself back a bit. "Is everything you said true?"

"Every last bit of it."

"Wow. That must have been so hard. Who did rely on?" I paused, trying to think.

"At the time, no one really. Later, though, when the pain really sinked in, I relied on my friend Jake, the one I told you about." I smiled, thinking about all the times I cried into his chest and he just sat there, letting me. "For a while, he was the best thing I had. He'd seen me at my weakest times, but also my strongest. He stayed even when I tried to push him away. He was great." I looked up to Ikuto who was standing there, listening with a jealous look on his face. I chuckled at him. "But that Jake guy ended up getting me into a lot of bad situations, so we're hardly even friends anymore." I smirked at him and now he began to awkwardly scratch behind his neck.

"Right…" the reporter said, looking back between Ikuto and I. "Well, I suppose I'll get out of here then. Have a good rest of your week." I nodded and she did as said. Once she was gone, I swaggered over to Ikuto and put my arms around his neck. (A/N sorry, I'm not a swag fan either, but that was the only word that described what I saw in my head for her walking ^^')

"Silly, silly, jealous Ikuto." I said as I combed his hair with my fingers.

"Yeah, yeah. Of course, after Amu was stolen by Tadase, can you blame me for being a bit protective?" I shrugged.

"'Spose not." I smirked just moments before reaching up and pecking him on the lips.

"You've become more open on your feelings these last few days. Are you sick…?" I rolled my eyes at his comment.

"I'm fine; thank you very little. I just…don't know how much longer I can stay. For all I know, my parents could call and tell me to go home tomorrow."

"I guess you're right." He put a hand on my hip and a hand on my neck. "I also guess we should make the most of our time." He leaned in, but I put a finger between our lips.

"You have orchestra practice in one hour and your breath stinks." I gave him a cute smile and hopped off.

"Evil little girl…" he mumbled to himself, although the smile didn't falter one bit.

Once I was just outside the door to our room, my phone rang again.

"Hello?" I listened as the person explained it all to me. My heart stopped and the phone slipped from my fingers. "Once…in a life time…" I looked over and saw Ikuto was getting closer. I scrambled to pick the phone back up. "Call me in one week and I'll give you my answer." I quickly hit the end button.

"Who was that?"

"Destiny Enterprises… They said they want to help fulfill my destiny."

**We're reaching the end :O Well...kind of...Theres probly about 10-ish chapters left in it... but afterwards, I have a story that connects with the end of this one a bit (naturally, I can't really give it to you before then ;P) so yes, once I finish this one I'll finish the other one...and maybe, just maybe...I'll make about Oh, three stories that all connect.)**


	23. Chapter 24

**Okay, this is SUPER short of a chapter, but really important too, so I didn't want to add more to it or would ruin the chapter...Plus, I'm really excited to tell yall that I've found a place to upload pics, so now you can see, for instance, the odelle x-transformation! (its on my profile under the perfect stranger pictures ;P) :D So, now it's worth it, right ;) Good xD**

Chapter 24

Ikuto and I talked it over a lot the past weeks. If I chose to go with them, I'd forfeit in the X-factor which, considering I'd be getting signed to a company who only has the biggest stars, wouldn't be such a bad thing. The bad part is...us. I'd be going everywhere while Ikuto went everywhere else, and I wouldn't be able to do long distance. I'd feel like I was holding him back.

The day came just as we knew it would. I just sat there, waiting for the phone to ring. We decided that I'd ask for more information and at the end, Ikuto and I would make our decision. I didn't feel like I should be alone in the choice, since I wouldn't be the only one affected.

_"This is your cellphone, check that it's not home. [If so] think of all things that you did wrong."_ my cell sang. Ikuto laughed a bit as I reached for the phone and opened it.

"_Odelle, have you made your decision?_" the woman asked.

"Actually, I decided I need more information. Like if you're just a branch, what is the main corporation. How much I will be paid. Things like that." The woman sighed.

"_We are the American music industry branch of Easter and you will be paid, roughly, 500,000 dollars a year_." she continued to explain further on and as I listened, it was really _really_ sounding good. Ikuto could also hear what was being said, and when she was done talking, we just had to look at each other. Both of our faces were extremely depressed.

"Please hold for one moment." I said before hitting the hold button. "I won't take it if you don't want me to." I said to Ikuto. His head was hanging low and he obviously had to think really hard on this.

"It's a good deal." he stated plainly. "The only problem is I want to be selfish and tell you to say no." He looked up at me and I could tell this was hard on him. Either he will miss me like crazy or feel guilty for holding me back. Either way, for both of us, it was a lose-lose situation.

"I would be more than happy to tell them no, Ikuto." _Lie._ "If you don't want me to say yes, I won't."

He sighed. "You should go. I mean, this is what you've always wanted, right?" I chuckled and shook my head.

"No. I've always wanted a sweet guy who loved me for me and would stick by my side throughout everything. I've always wanted a guy who can make me laugh when I want to cry and will hold me close when he fails to do so." _I've always wanted a guy like you._

"I'm glad to hear, but really. Take the opportunity. I'll wait for you. Besides, it's kind of illegal right now for me to technically be dating you." We shared a laugh and I realized he really wanted what was best for me. I just hope he was right and this was it.

With a deep breath, I pressed un-hold and put the phone to me ear. "_Have you made your decision?_" I nodded, though she couldn't see.

"Yeah. I…I'll join."


	24. Chapter 25

**Well, now that I have a plan to get to the end, I have decided it will definitely stop at 40 ch! Cool huh? No? okay...**

Chapter 25

I got my suitcase all packed and ready to fly to L.A. Ikuto insisted he fly with me, but he had a concert in London the very next day so I told him he couldn't. We said our goodbyes (which may or may not have involved mild face-sucking…) and I walked through the security. On the plane, I couldn't help but feel like everything was wrong.

"Are you alright, Miss?" one of the flight attendants asked me. I smiled widely.

"I'm fine; just nervous." She nodded and let me be, which I was thankful for. I wanted to just sit and soak in my pity-party for the idiot who made probably the biggest mistake in her life.

I finally arrived in the ever-so-loved Los Angeles and met with my new manager, Margret. She had already called the X-factor people to tell them I would no longer be on the show. I can still hear Simon yelling at her, since it was a conference call.

"Odelle, I expect your flight went well?" I nodded a bit sheepishly. I got to my apartment and rested for the night before going to Destiny's building. It was huge, so I felt lost and out of place. "Now perk up. Confidence is key is this business."

"I'll work on that later. For now, I need to know exactly where I need to know." She nodded and showed me the recording studio, the meeting room, the bathrooms, her office, ect.

"Alright, now I hear you write?" she asked.

"I dabble. There's a difference." I wasn't just yet ready to share my thoughts and feelings other than "Masquerade" (which I am _so_ naming my album).

"Alright. Well, let us see what you've come up with in your dabbling. We'll perfect it." My first day here and I already hated this woman.

"No! Never. Nuh-uh." I crossed my arms over my chest and turned my back to her.

"Of course now is when confidence kicks in…" she mumbled. "Odelle, you don't have to add them to your record. We just want to see what you are capable of for the future.

"Promise not a word ever gets spoken outside of the people looking at the lyrics, you, and me. I won't agree to anything else." I spoke quickly, down to the point, and sternly.

"Of course! Here at Destiny, your secrets being kept are our priority."

With a clenched jaw, I huffed out, "Fine. My book is my hotel." She nodded and quickly made a call to a taxi-service nearby and within minutes the cab was here.

I quickly grabbed the book (tearing out one or two lyrics…some things should be left to the writer) and headed back to the taxi. Margret paid him when he got to the Enterprise's building. Hurriedly, we walked into the meeting room with the writers and handed them my book. They first just skimmed over it and nodded when they saw good things. After the skim, they made copies of it and all of them paid close attention, circling the songs they really liked. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the main girl, Millie, stood.

"Well, From what I saw, 'Make History' was the best. Odelle." She motioned for me to song a bit of it, so I stood.

_"Life is too short not to live._

_I can't get enough oxygen._

_I want to go on, want to stand out._

_Don't want to be just a face in the crowd._

_I really need,_

_I need to make history."_

They all nodded and wrote it down as one they should use.

"Now Odelle, would we be able to use 'Masquerade' in the album as well?" Millie asked. I nodded silently in reply.

"Excuse her." Margret started. "She's feeling a bit… lost, you could say. Being a kid in a grown up world is a big adjustment."

"Nothing to apologize for. She's obviously a small, timid girl, but inside her is a fire for music. We can use this for promotional use of the album." Margret nodded happily at the sound of selling records, on the other hand, I felt like I was being used, and I didn't appreciate it. Sadly, I couldn't get myself to say anything about it.

The meeting continued on and we picked about ten songs for the albums. A couple of calls later, I was allowed to put Taylor Swift's songs "Red", "Begin Again" and "Breathe" on the album.

"Odelle, you should go rest. In two days we record the Taylor Swift songs." I nodded and headed outside to get some air while I waited for the taxi. The air felt nice on my skin after I had been burning up and wishing I could actually breathe, not just sing it.

After a couple of moments, a felt someone lean against the wall next to me, so, assuming I'd see Margret, I turned my mouth gaped open when I saw a green-haired guy next to me. Note: _guy._ The species I am having the biggest amount of trouble with lately.

He began to look down at me with his piercing green eyes (through thin-rim glasses, which looked pretty cute on him), so I regained my composure and looked away.

"You're the shy new girl, right?" he asked as repositioned himself on the wall so he faced me. He looked about16, a year old than me and two years younger than…_Ikuto…_

"Yup, that's me." I purposely sounded extremely unenthusiastic about it.

"Why the long face? Millions would love your place." he asked with a totally fake British accent.

"Well Mister Poet; if you must know it. I left my boyfriend in London. Now I feel ever so done. This building's too hot, but yet feels so cold. I miss my guy, if only you could know." I mocked. Susu clapped her hands as she sat on my shoulder.

"Well done, Del-chan." She stated excitedly.

"That sucks, new girl." the guy said.

"Yeah, it does. By the way, my name's Odelle."

"Nice, unique. Works for this industry. Anyways, I'm the intern Mathew." He held a hand out and it took me a couple seconds to figure out what he was doing since I had shaken hands with someone.

"Nice to meet you." I turned my vision back towards the sky. It wasn't like I was being rude, I was just trying to completely clear my mind of thoughts. It wasn't working. It was sunset, so I kept thinking back to Paris when Ikuto and I were at the Tower when we first met. Not to mention all the times we opened the blinds in the hotel rooms and just watched the sun set.

I closed my eyes and looked down; realizing that the thoughts that were once so happy now depressed me. To be honest, I completely forgot Mathew was there. He best not go into the music business as a singer.

"No offence, but you look like you could use something to get your mind off of the world. My car is right over there in the parking garage if you'd like to go somewhere." To my regret, the first thing I thought of was a movie where the guy the girl just met asked her to go somewhere and she did and he…yeah. I didn't want that to even _almost_ happen to me again.

With flaming cheeks, I said, "N-no. I-I-I'll be f-fine." I looked away and unconsciously crossed my arms over my stomach in a very closed-off manner. At first he gave me a weird look, but soon, realization hit him and began laughing.

"You think…? No. I'm not that kind of guy, don't worry." He chuckled again. "I can't even see myself doing…_that_ before marriage."

I blushed a bit more. "S-sorry…it's been a weird last couple months, so I've given up on trying figuring out guys. I've learned to assume the worst." _Why am I telling him all this?_

"Understandable. So you trust me enough now?" I nodded.

"Let me cancel my cab." I quickly called the taxi service to cancel and we were on our way.

Ikuto Pov

Odelle left four days ago and it's been insane. Or was it me who has been… I don't know anymore. It's/I'm getting pretty pathetic.

Of course, it doesn't help I could already see out little cat eared children, a blond boy and midnight-blue haired girl. The boy had my eyes and the girl had Odelle's, and it was perfect. We'd laugh, play, just have a good time. As a family. Which now will never exist.

I decided to get my mind off of everything and checked the News. Big mistake, as Odelle always said. Third thing down had the headline "New Artist for Destiny Enterprise Already Found New Love?" Curiosity struck, I clicked the link and saw the picture of Odelle. With a green haired guy. With his arm over her petite little shoulders. _Looks like she got over you, Tsukiyomi. Got a plan? Oh of course._ All that was left to do was put it in action.

**And bring on the reviews :D (I enjoy reading hate reviews too ;P)(the link to Mathew's pic is in my account. actually...just, every chapter there's a new person or a new look, just go to my profile to see if there's a link XD)  
**


	25. Chapter 26

**I just realized something kind of big...I haven't thanked you all for so long for supporting me D: Sorry . I really am thankful for you guys, I swear! (even if I sometimes forget to show it) So really, thank you guys soooo much! all the reviews are wonderful and the favorites anf follows, EVERYTHING (And to you guests, thank you for taking it out of your time to re-find my story when you want to read the next chapter ;) ) Anyways, so thank you so much and here's chapter 26, just for you guys ;)**

Chapter 26

Ikuto Pov

I had the guy planted at the corner. I had my arm around the small, extremely attractive brunette's waist, and the plan was put into action. The second we turned the corner, I leaned into the girl as though we would kiss, so the guy bombarded us with pictures. Quickly, he ran over to the building where he would be printing out the photo's to show to his boss. Sure, most any other person would find my worldwide revenge a bit...nasty, especially considering she and I are technically through, but it's only fair. She _actually_ got over me. I'm just playing it up.

I got back to the hotel and fell asleep. The next day, everything seemed pretty bland. At least, until about 6 pm when I got a text from a certain someone.

_"One new message from: Odelle"_ I became a bit excited.

_"Hey Ikuto! I was just checking up on the news and I saw in the most viewed this month section that the second to top report was me with one of my new friends, and I swear there is nothing happening between him and I! I swear it! We were just walking around and to comfort me a bit since I was feeling really down (missing you a LOT btw), he put his arm around me. It meant nothing like what it looked like! I'm not sure if you saw it yet, but I just did and I am so sorry! From now on I'll be a bit more careful, I promise!_

_~Your Del-chan"_ My mouth hung open so Yoru came flying over to see what it was.

"Well…Shit. ~nya" he said flatly. I couldn't even nod in agreement. _What the hell have I done?_

Odelle Pov

I felt so awful! I can't believe someone could even _do_ that! I must look like such a jerk now! To get my mind off of it, I kept on scrolling and saw a slightly newer article.

"Odelle Johnson's Ex Gets Flat Out Revenge" _Huh?_

I clicked the link and the first thing I saw was a huge picture of Ikuto just about to kiss some skanky brunette. I could feel the tears going over my eyes and without even thinking, I sent a new text to Ikuto.

_"YOU FILTHY BASTARD! HOW THE HELL COULD I HAVE APOLOGIZED TO SUCH A JERK LIKE YOU TO GO KISSING AROUND SOME SLUT BECAUSE A GUY HAD HIS ARM AROUND ME?! DON'T EVER TALK TO ME AGAIN!"_ Without hesitation, I hit send. Not a moment passed before I broke down crying. It was 10 A.M. and was supposed to be at a meeting anytime, but I didn't care. I just cried and cried. After a few minutes, Mathew came in.

Ikuto Pov

I read her next text over and over. Even when I looked away, I could practically hear her screaming at me, "YOU FILTHY BASTARD!" My heart sank down to my feet and I felt my face go pale, because she was right. I was a jerk. I deserved to be treated like this. Every single word was true.

And to be perfectly honest, I wouldn't know what to say to her anyway.

Odelle Pov

"Odelle, time for the- Hey, you okay?!" Mathew leaned down next to me and moved some hair from my face along with some tears. I nodded my head towards the screen, which still had the story up. One glance at the monitor and he looked down at me with sadder eyes than I thought he could pull. Quickly, he scooped me up in a hug. Without a second thought, I cried heavily in his shoulder. a couple of minutes later, I cleaned myself up and smiled as I walked into the meeting room.

"S-sorry I'm late… I just received a wake-up call from reality and it came in one clear picture." Margret sent me a look, so I mouthed "Tell you later." She nodded so I quickly took my seat as they got on with the meeting.

After the meeting, Margret pulled me aside and had me tell her what happened. When I finished, she pushed some of the hair away from my face like my own mother would and her lip pouted out.

"Will you be okay?"

"Yeah…I already figured out how to get revenge."

"May I ask?" She rose in eye-brow at me in question.

"Of course. I'll make Mathew fall in love with me and then do absolutely everything with him. It will take time, but it will be done." I smirked at the mental image I had of Ikuto just going around looking at news, then finding me actually being with Mathew and confirming it.

"And if you fall for Mathew?" she asked. I just shrugged with a smirk plastered on my face.

"It's a plus." Victoriously, I turned on my heel and walked off. _Ikuto, I'm going to _break_ you so, so bad…_


	26. Chapter 27

**Thank you guys again! Now, to make up for last chapters shortness, here's an extra-long chapter! (That's right! two updates: one day! new record! XD)**

Chapter 27

Today I'm meeting my band that will be working with me, well, for a while. It's been a month since I joined the record company and found out Ikuto is a bastard… Also, to be honest, I'm a bit nervous about meeting them, but hopefully, that will change once I _actually_ meet them.

After a few minutes, two guys with guitars came in (one with slick black hair that flipped out at the ends, the other with wavy brown hair), one guy with a base guitar (dirty blond), a girl with a microphone (green hair), and a green haired guy (whose face I couldn't quite see yet) with drum sticks in the hand I could see. I made a guess as to their roles.

"Y-yo. Thank you all for working with me." I said as they walked in. Without even trying to, I let a little bit of my now-weird accent drip in. (That's what I got for travelling the world with a Japanese guy…) They all smiled nicely at me as they took their seats, and the second I saw the drummer's face, my smile widened. "Matt!" I bounced up and hugged him. It'd been about a week and a half since I'd seen him.

"Ahem. May I have your attention _please_?" Margret said to us, mostly me and Matt. I blushed a bit and quickly sat back in my seat. I was quite pleased when Mathew took the seat next to me. "Alright everyone, I'm going to introduce you. You're lead singer is Odelle Johnson; the drummer is Mathew Kington; back-up singer is Kelly Kington; guitarist A is Nicholas Storm; Guitarist B is Caleb Storm; Finally, playing the base guitar, is Aiden Kaeloha. Everyone got that?" We nodded. "Good, now I'm going to let you guys get to know each other." Once she was gone, I turned to Mathew and Kelly.

"So are you guys' brother and sister or something?"

"Half siblings. My dad died in a car accident sixth months before I was born, and so when I was one and a half, she got re-married to his dad, who adopted me as well."

"I'm sorry to hear about your dad, but it's cool your mom got over it while you were still young. So what's the age difference?"

"I'm so close to 16, and she's 19." _YES! He's not even sixteen yet!_ I nodded and moved over to the guitarists.

"And what about you to? Just coincidence or-"

"Fraternal twins." they said together. I nodded.

"Cool. So I guess that just leaves you, ay, Aiden?"

"Yeah…I'm an only child…"

"Awesome, same here." We both made a tense smile and did a small nod, causing everyone to laugh.

We sat in awkward silence a few moments, so I piped up, "There's no real way to just naturally get to know each other sitting in this grey room, is there?" They all shook their heads and a few mumbled a quick 'no.' "Alright then, what are we doing waiting around here. This is _the_ Los Angeles! Let's go to the beach!" I got up from my chair and when I reached the door, I turned back. "Unless you guys have a better idea?" I raised an eye-brow at them and a few of them shared a glance. Matt just shrugged and walked over to me.

"Why not, guys?" With a sigh, the others got up as well, defeat dripping in every movement. Luckily, they were smiling, so they were okay with it.

"Mathew and I are going to drive there. You guys go on." Kelly said. We waved bye to them and so it was left to the four of us; Aiden, Nick, Caleb, and me. I couldn't help but notice the three boys (who looked about 17 for the twins, and sixteen for Aiden) shared a glance.

"Dare I even ask?" I asked the three boys, who were just that; _boys._

Caleb was the first to speak. "Well, for us three, we just take our shirts off and dive in since you know, we're _guys_. Wearing shorts. But you see…"

"You're a girl, also in shorts, but still a girl." Nick finished.

"Pervs." I said as I whacked all three of them on the head. "I'm not stripped anything. I'm wearing a Tee and shorts! I grew up swimming in this!" Which was true. I've always been self-conscious on my weight, so I put my bathing suit on under shorts a t-shirt and dove in as is.

"So…we'll see you in a wet t-shirt?" Caleb's eye-brow was raised as if he was already imagining it. Soon enough, a smirk filled his lips.

"Remind me _never_ to be alone with either of you twins." They laughed at me and from then on, there was a pleasant silence.

When we reached the beach, we saw Mathew and Kelly already found a semi-large area for us six to relax. Once we reached them and began talking, we all got to know each other. It wasn't forced. It was just natural. We just all clicked pretty well. After a little bit, I decided to go and buy a cheap camera, but I wouldn't tell them what I was doing. When I came back, they were all having fun in the water, so I took pictures of everyone. This is what I always did when it was more than just me and another person. I'd find a way to escape and collect behind the scenes memories. I liked watching everything so I could replay in my mind the correct story. It was perfect. I never messed anything up. I kept my friends. If I wanted to go, nobody would miss me too much. It just worked nicely. It always had.

After about 20 minutes, I ran out of pictures, so I decided to just lie down and watch the clouds. I didn't want to intrude on their fun, now did I? Even if I did, I wouldn't want to appear rude at all, so I wouldn't.

"Odelle?" a voice said from 'behind' me. I tilted my head up and saw what was, very clearly, an up-side down Jake. Quickly scrambled up and prepared for defensive measures. Susu floated above my right should, ready to character change me so I could get away faster.

"Jacob. What are you doing here?" My voice showed pure hostility. If he didn't figure it out before, he knew now that we were no longer friends.

"Look, Del, I made a mistake."

"Oh yeah, you're telling me! I was lied to so I would bring them Aruto, I was almost raped by that guy in front of you, I was beaten by that guy, and not to mention that those mafia idiots had me do a little 'show' for them. How I got into that mess? Heh, you should know!" Sure, I was being a bit cold, but he deserved worse than what I gave him.

"I just came to say I'm sorry. I didn't know any of that was going to happen. Heck, he _promised_ none of it would. He lied to me, too." His voice was soft, as though if he spoke louder something would break. Tears began to threaten falling, but I held them back and stepped closer to Jacob.

"I never want to see your face again. If I do, my security team, which will be watching me at all times starting tomorrow, will come after you and I will tell them to beat you mercilessly. Do we have an understanding?" From the bottom of my eye, I saw his Adam's apple move and he gulped back fear. He was just an inch taller than me, so when I stood just five inches away, our eyes were almost right across from each other.

He sighed, and while I thought he was going to turn on his heel and leave, he actually leaned forward and kissed my cheek before whispering in my ear, "Until next time." Hatred, fierce hatred ran through me. I wanted to punch him, kick him, everything that would ruin his good looks, but I didn't. I just stood there glaring at him as he walked away. Once he was several yards away, I took a deep breath and tried to calm down some. When I did, I felt several pairs of eyes looking at me.

I quickly turned and saw the band looking at me with gaping mouths and wide eyes. Awkwardly, I scratched the back of my head and smiled, mildly wincing as I did so. Mathew was the first to come towards me and shortly after, the others followed.

"What exactly happened right then?" Caleb asked

"Short version where I don't explain everything that we've gone through or long version where I do?"

"Long version." they all replied. I sighed and began to tell them everything. And by everything, I mean _everything_; full detail. (Other than the stripping part. I didn't want to give the twins any ideas.) When I finished, their eyes were the size of dinner plates. Without missing a beat, Kelly reached out and hugged me.

"I can't imagine what you went through!" she exclaimed before letting me go and turning towards the four boys. "If I _ever_ hear any of you did anything or attended anything like what happened with the mafia guys, God so help me I _will_ kill you!" she yelled at them. They quickly took a step back and moved their hands quickly saying "NO! NO! NEVER! NO WORRIES!" and things to the like.

"So, you never really explained what he was doing _here_." Mathew obviously didn't like pointing it out, but wanted to answer.

"He came to apologize. As you probably saw, I was ready to kill him, but refrained myself."

"And the kiss?"

"Remind me to wash my face when we get back to the officesOH SHOOT!" I quickly grabbed my phone from my pocket and saw that it was on silent…And I missed three calls from Margret and had four texts.

_"Where are you? I told you to get to know each other not leave the building!"_

_"Get back here right now! My boss is wondering how I lost you and is NOT happy!"_

_"Please, please hurry! I'm beginning to look really bad right now!"_

Finally, sent thirty seconds ago, _"If you don't get here within ten minutes, I'm fired! Get here, NOW!"_

"Matt, how much room you got in your car?"

Somehow, we managed to get to the office in 9 minutes, so we had 30 seconds to spare. We also somehow managed to get 6 people in a four person car.

"ODELLE! YOU'RE HERE!" Margret screamed before running up to me, hugging me, and then kissing me on top of my head repeatedly. I was stunned, to say the least.

"Good to see you too, Mar." She quickly stepped back and put her hands on my shoulders.

"Never. Do. That. Again." Forcing myself not to fake-salute her, I nodded. "Good. Now, _the_ boss is on video chat. He wants to meet his new star performer." I nodded, wondering what he'll be like.

Ikuto Pov

My step-nephew called me into his office for some reason. I was back in Japan after I had that big problem with Odelle, considering I no long had a reason to keep going with the orchestra. When I walked in, I heard him talking with someone, a girl to be exact.

"…violinist. He's very good."

"Look, my band is just fine, thank you. We don't need-"

"That is my final decision. Now, he's right here if you would like to meet him." I heard the girl sigh and she must have nodded since he motioned me over. The second I saw the screen, my eyes grew wide.

_"IKUTO?!"_ Odelle screamed. "No. 'Boss' I will _not_ work with this evil, jealous, perverted, cat-eared bastard!"

"Oh, tell me how you really feel, Odelle." I said sarcastically, earning a glare from her.

"I'm not supposed to use those kinds of words." she replied in all seriousness.

"Odelle, you will work with him. That is all." With that, Hikaru turned off the chat. "Have fun, Ikuto. Consider this my once-in-a-lifetime gift to you." I nodded in understanding before leaving, knowing that's what I was supposed to do.

_Thank you, Hikaru. Thank you._


	27. Chapter 28

**SORRY! I've been updating so strangely fast and that doesn't make the last few chapters last very long does it? Also, a couple of you who are regular reviews keep feeling bad for missing a lot...BUT it's my fault guys. I've figured out all of the last few chapters (plus a bonus chapter, cuz I'm AWESOME like that) so...ya know...I want you guys to see it asap...ANYWAYS though, sorry for my constant updates and thank you for reviews! :D**

"Odelle! Don't be such a brat and come with me to get the new violinist!"

"Never!" I screamed as she was pulling me to try to get me to let go of the door frame. As you can guess, it wasn't working. After about two minute, she let me go, but I still hung on.

"Yo, what's going on here?" Mathew asked, a bit confused about the whole thing.

"She doesn't want to go with me to pick up her ex-boyfriend/the band's new violinist." For a second, Mathew's eyes widened, but they quickly, ever so slightly, narrowed.

"Well, I don't think she should have to."

"Yeah?" Margret asked. "I don't think we need boys with non-helpful opinions. I also don't think we need boys who don't help woman get the pop-stars under control. What do you say to that?"

"Understood." he grumbled out. "Sorry, Del-chan." with that, he reached for my waist the get me off.

"Ah heck no." I said as I let go just before he grabbed me. "Too many things could go wrong there dude." I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the post.

"As you would say; arigato."

"THANK YOU MATHEW! Odelle, we're leaving." Margret demanded.

"Yes Marther." I said, mocking her a bit.

The drive there seemed pretty short. Several times, though, I thought _I could jump here and run for it…No, here would be better…_ Sadly, I never did, so we eventually reached the airport and I was going to confront Ikuto. You can imagine the string of cussing that went on in my head (some slipping out a bit…).

We waited about ten minutes and eventually saw the blue haired boy coming towards us with his bag.

"Yo, Odelle."

"Tsukiyomi." I said in the coldest voice I could muster.

"D-don't mind her, Ikuto-san. She just woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Margret commented, trying to mend the bridge.

"Yeah, and I have since I found out we were working with each other." I mumbled loud enough he could hear me.

"Aw, Odelle, I'm hurt. You just stabbed me in the heart. Kiss it make it better?" Ikuto teased.

I felt the veins popping out as I raised my voice saying, "I could make something for someone else better with a simple kick! You got that?!" He knew what I meant and that I meant it. (For those who don't know what I meant, let's just say I know a very good way to make sure he never has kids.)

"W-well why don't we go now, Ikuto?" Mar asked. With a gulp, he nodded and we walked off. He didn't think to argue when I got in the front. Smart boy.

Once we arrived back to the meeting room where all the members were gathered, all eyes were on the fuming me and awkwardly smirking Ikuto. Once I took my seat, Aiden got up and held his hand out for Ikuto.

"Yo, I'm Aiden Kaeloha. The greens over there are Kelly and Mathew; I'll let you guess who is who. Now, Blacky there is Nick while Caleb is waves. Lastly, even though from my knowledge you to have…met already," he winked and smiled, hinting that he knows we were together. "Is Odelle Johnson. Got it all?"

"Yeah, I think so." Ikuto turned toward the generic direction of everyone. "I'm glad to be working with you." Now he turned specifically to me. "I'm glad to be working with all of you." His voice was softer towards me. I couldn't help but notice the bit of guilt lying in his eyes. Naturally, because of this, I snorted.

"Yup. Woopty-doo." I mumbled. I looked over to Kelly who, by the looks of it, needed a cup so she can re-drink her drool. _Note to self: remind her of all the crap he put me through._ (As you can guess, over the last few weeks, I've received a perfect hatred for Ikuto. Go figure? Become jealous over the ex who is only kind of an ex and do something stupid like kiss a slut and she begins to _hate_ you. Who'da thunk it?)

"Well, any questions for Ikuto?" Mar asked us, so I quickly raised my hand.

"Let's say, hypothetically, you went on a world tour sort of deal with a girl, and in the last month or so, you guys start dating, only to find that she has to break up with you to start her career. Again, hypothetically, somebody takes a picture of her with a guy and makes it sound like they're together, but it's not certain yet. What the hell do you do?" It was cold. It was colder than ice. However, I didn't give a crap at that moment.

"Logically, you talk to her first, but sometimes that girl means so much to you that logic doesn't like to work when it involves her." by the looks I was seeing around the room, they just remembered why I hated this guy.

"Right, well, Tsuki, it was a pleasure being here with you, but I know enough about you to know I can leave now and you won't come after me." With all said and asked and done, I walked away. I walked away leaving all covering up behind me. I walked away so I could cry and no one would see it. I walked away for a million reasons, but one stood out the most…

I didn't want _him_ to know I still cared deep down.

Mathew Pov (A/N YES! That's right! He gets his own _POV_ now. *btw, anyone wanna review telling me what that means? 'XD)

Everyone was silent a moment, and to be honest it was killing me. A part of me knew it would suspect so many things if I got up and went after her, but yet…the other half figured they'd be right anyway. After a few awkwardly silent moments, I stood up and rushed after her. I heard the slamming of a door around where her office is, so that's the first place I looked. The door was closed so I peeked through the window to see a figure sitting in a corner, moving up and down ever so slightly. She was sobbing, which only made me want to. (Which is sappy and unmanly, I know, but can you blame a guy?)

I opened the door quietly so not to disturb her, and now I could hear the hiccupping. I quietly walked over to her and sat beside her. She jumped a bit and looked up, wiping some of the tears away, but once she realized it was me, she clung to my shirt for dear life. For several minutes, we just sat there. To be honest, I never really found a girl worth loving, but after I got to know Odelle, I realized there are some still out there. There are still diamonds in the coal mines; you just have to look harder.

"Shh…It's okay. I'm here. From now on, as long as I'm around, he can't hurt you. Okay?" She lightly nodded her head against my chest and I couldn't help but smile just a bit. She obviously trusted me more than most people since she let herself cry with me, which, put simply, made me happy. It's not that I like her crying, but I like she trusts me (if that makes sense.)

A few more minutes later, she sat up straight and looked at me with a faint smile on her face. "Th-thanks. I needed that." She wiped away some of the tears, smiling a bit bigger now.

"No problem. Seemed like you were holding that in for a while now." She laughed half-heartedly and nodded.

"You have _no_ idea." We share a small laugh and she looked down a second, causing some hair to fall in her face. Casually, I moved it out of her face, causing her to look down again as she blushed (only this time she only moved her eyes.) For some reason, right then I realized I'd known her exactly 6 weeks. It'd felt longer to be honest…Of course, we'd been together almost every day except for one little bit when I went to visit some family.

I quickly noticed I still had my pointer and middle finger behind her ear from pushing back some hair, and just when I was going to move my hand, I noticed a certain blue haired boy. Odelle wasn't looking at me right now, so I took a better glance to be sure it was, in fact, Ikuto. I smirked a bit when I saw it was. His eyes narrowed at me so I looked back at Odelle, putting on a charming smile.

"Odelle." I whispered ever so delicately. When she looked up, there was a gleam of hope on her eyes. "May I kiss you?" Being the gentleman I am, I wanted to ask first. Her eyes widened for a second, but she soon nodded ever so slightly. Our eye lids fluttered closed and we did just as we agreed. It was perfect, especially with Ikuto fuming at the window. In fact, just to be evil, I slipped a hand around her waist and pulled her closer, almost to the point she was on top of me. I snuck a glance at Ikuto and I could practically see the smoke coming from his ears. To say the least, I was pleased with myself.

About a minute later, we pulled away. I took a glance at the window to see Ikuto had stomped away, but glanced back to Odelle quickly.

"S-so…Wh-what does this make us?" she asked, hints of fear drifting in her voice.

"Whatever you'd like us to be." She looked down at my hand and intertwined our fingers. Honestly, it felt a little off, but probably just because of the weird angle.

"Does a couple work?" she teased a bit, so I leaned a bit closer.

"A couple works perfectly." We both smiled and shared a small kiss.

Both Pov

Score 1 for me, score 0 for Ikuto.

**Well now I'm positive you all hate me...so why not tell me all about it? :D**


	28. Chapter 29

**Sorry...ur probably all getting tired of the music part of the story, huh? Oh well, there probably won't be much more (except one specific moment that I specifically need in there...that I can't tell you about obvious. ;P) But yeah, there won't be MUCH more music. just a bit.**

Chapter 29

I was having my first heart-attack at age 15. How it as possible, you ask? Well, having your time on a stage in front of THOUSANDS of people (who of course were actually here to see Taylor Swift…but that's just a detail) ready to sing your album's main single where the name comes from (a.k.a _Masquerade)_ tends to do that to people. For the millionth time, I straightened my light blue t-shirt, woredon my crapped black jacket, ulled down my black and blue floral just-above-the-knee-length skirt and dusted off my black ankle-boots.

"Del, Del, chill girl. Chill." Kelly comforted.

"Are we ready for this? I mean, the band's only been together three months. ARE WE READY FOR THIS?!" I began to hyperventilate again and pace around the back stage area. We were also about to play my other single "Mr. Cheater Cheater" which I wrote recently for a certain someone.

"Odelle, look at me." Aiden said, so I did so. "We're ready. Now, you are going to go out there and you are going to rock that stage, okay?" He was so harsh it helped.

I smiled and nodded. "Right. Right. We can do this- OH! He's drumming!" The plan had been that Mathew would rum a bit of a drum solo, signaling for the smoke to start coming. Once the fog was large enough, the rest of us scurried onto the stage. Matt stopped drumming and the second he did, the guitars started on just some nice simple chords to ring through the air. I loved seeing the looks on the fans faces when the noticed it wasn't a Taylor song.

"Well, I'm not sure how many of you have seen the first episode of the latest season of X-factor UK, but if you did, you might recall one girl named Odelle Johnson?" Suddenly, a lot of the fans got a happily surprised grin on their face and began cheering. "Much better." Now, the real music started and _Masquerade_ began. (A/N btw, sorry that it really is my song and for your guy's benefit *trust me* you can't hear it really…so just try and imagine it to the best of your ability XD)

The last chord rung through the air and I looked back a moment to see the Masks on the screen "glitch out".

"Alright people, how about one more single that will be on my album coming out this summer?" Cheers rang through. "I'll take that as a yes, but first, a bit of a story.

"Once upon a time, there was a charming young girl some people called Del." Now wait for the roaring to die down… "Now, one day she found an awesome guy…but she had to leave him for reasons not to be explained. Well, while she was gone, the press got hold of a picture that was completely misinterpreted." the picture of Matt and I popped up on the screen, but out hair color was changed and little bits of carton hats and glasses and clothing were added. "Well, he got jealous." The picture of Ikuto and Skank (again, with effects done) appeared on the screen. Only their cartoon additions were Devil horns and tails. While everyone was still booing, the music started and I took the microphone off the stand. This was a dancing song, and by golly was I going to dance.

"Most girls

Use big words

To seem more

Mature.

To make the guy

That they despise

Feel so small and dumb

But I ain't one of 'em.

"I'm usin' little tiny words

'Cause I think every last one is worth

Your time

'Cause I know that you can't deny!

"That you're Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

Who broke my heart

You're Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

You know who you are

Yeah Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

I know you ain't mature

That's why I use little words

Ha!"

I loved the feeling of just dancing around and having fun. It was so refreshing not being totally ticked while talking about what a dirt bag Ikuto is.

"You might be a teen

With a smile that's so sweet

But you will never again see

The side of me

That acts so nicely

"'Cause I don't like Mr. Cheater cheater

Who's done nothin' but break my heart

And hey, hey Mr. Cheater cheater

I know that you know who you are

"You're Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

Who broke my heart

You're Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

You know who you are

Yeah Mr. Cheater cheater

Pumpkin eater

I know you ain't mature

That's why I use the little words

…Mr. Cheater cheater" _Doong_. The guitar sounded as the finish. I looked back and scanned the whole band, taking special notice of Ikuto. He looked as though he was caught red-handed.

"Thank you so much you guys you were awesome!" I told them all before walking off stage.

After Taylor's concert was over, she came over to our band for the more-official meeting.

"Hey, I'm Taylor. You're Odelle, right?" I nodded. "It's so nice to finally meet you!" She reached over and gave me a hug, which I gladly returned. "Well, good luck and if you ever need any help, I'll do my best to do so!"

"Thank you so much! Have fun!" She walked off with the rest of her band and I turned to mine.

My band and I decided that we'd go celebrate our first live performance with a fancy special dinner. While heading out to the cars though, I, as always, stuck to the back of the group. As my catch-phrase is now-a-days, big mistake.

Ikuto grabbed my arm from behind me and had me face him. The lighting wasn't very good since it was dark outside, but I could tell he was serious about whatever this was about.

"That second songs was for me obviously, but yet you're currently doing the sa-"

"No, I'm not, Tsukiyomi. What you did was out of jealousy at the thought possibility of being with someone else. What I did was because I found a good guy who likes me as more than a friend and I need someone to make me forget about…" I paused out of pure evil and hatred. I wanted to be sure what I was about to say cut him down to the core and hurt him as badly as he hurt me. It needed venom. "…_you._" My last word said, I turned on my heel and went back to the others. Mathew saw the look of anger written across my face.

"You okay, Del?" I nodded.

"Fine. Just Tsukiyomi problems. No worries." Even though I told him it was fine, he obviously wanted to push on. Luckily, he didn't and just half-smiled before pecking me on the lips.

"YO! TSUKIYOMI!" Caleb yelled to the frozen Ikuto. "You coming?"

"Nah, I'm just going to…think some things over." Caleb shrugged at his response.

"Okay. See ya later then, Ikuto!" With one quick motion, Caleb slid back into his seat and buckled up. I was in back right corner of the car, so I took a quick sweep of everyone. They all had smiles as they talked with each other (usually made up with an insult towards one person). It was all so seemingly perfect, but yet, when I turned to see Ikuto walking away, the moon shining on his face so perfectly, I hurt. All the happiness surrounding me only made it worse. At that very moment in time, I imagined myself running out of the car and jumping into Ikuto's arms, forgiving him of everything, but I didn't. We drove off and when we passed Ikuto, he and I shared the same look.

_What if…?_


	29. Chapter 30-Mother's day special

Here's a special chapter for mothers day! (which surprisingly works with the time-line...XD)

* * *

Chapter 30 (mother's day special)

I was so excited as I rode the plane back to my home town. My mother and I would have so much fun! I even had my gift to her all ready to give to her tomorrow!

Grabbing my luggage and hopping into the cab, I thought that I should make a quick call.

"Hey mom. How have you been?"

"Oh, I've been good. You're father and I really miss you."

"Yeah, sorry. Also, sorry, I can't be there with you tomorrow. Big star, you know how it goes."

"Oh yes, yes. I know. I-it's quite alright. So have you been fairly safe? Did your friend find their father?"

"Yes, they did. That's why I decided I could officially start my career. Well, I'm nearing my next destination. I hope you have a wonderful day."

"You too, sweetheart." We both hung up and I felt so excited as I told my driver to stop at the end of the block instead of all the way to the house. I was glad I didn't need to bring anything with me besides my phone and other essentials since the majority of my clothing was here anyways.

Standing in front of the door, I gave it a quick knock and rang the doorbell. My cousin Tony was the one who opened the door, and when he saw me, his eyes widened. Before he spoke, I put my finger to my lips and handed him my bag. I softly walked on the hard-wood floor over to her (luckily her back was to me while she sat at the table) and once I was right behind her, I reached out and hugged her.

"Hi mom." She took a deep breath so I let go so she could turn and look at me.

"Odelle!" She stood up and hugged me. "You said you couldn't make it."

"I wanted you to be extra happy." I teased. "Now come on. Let's make this the best mother's day EVER."

Ikuto Pov

Well, everyone decided to fly home to wish their moms a happy mother's day, so I decided I'd go as well. I flew back to Tokyo and had one of Kukai's brothers take me home. When I got to the front door, I pulled my violin out and played a happy, almost floral-sounding song. Happily, my mother opened the door.

"Oh Ikuto! You remembered!" she reached up and gave me a hug, which I returned out of politeness. Next out came my step-father, who looked neutral about my coming home.

"Ikuto." he said. "What a…surprise." Hikaru followed, and smiled a bit when he saw me.

"So, how are things working out with the band?"

"Give it time. And thank you by the way. I think I can now win her back."

"Win who?" my mother and step-father asked.

"My ex-girlfriend who totally hates me now because I was an idiot…"

"Ah, well. I'm sure you'll get her back. Come on in now! I'll make some tea!"

Mathew Pov

Kelly and I were so excited. We had practiced for hours playing 'Best Day' by Taylor Swift, and were finally ready.

We called our mother into the music room. I have a bit of guitar experience, just not as much as drumming. Thankfully, I had enough for this.

"Now I know why all the trees change in the fall

And I know you were on my side, even when I was wrong

And I love you for giving me your eyes

For staying back and watching me shine and

I didn't know if you knew

So I'm taking this chance to say that I had the best day with you….today."

"We love you mom!" we yelled over the final chord from my guitar.

"Oh thank you!" she yelled, coming and hugging us both. "That was so wonderful!"

Normal Pov

We all do our own thing. It's never quite the same as another person. However, we all share the same love for our mothers; the people who raised us.

We love you Moms!

"She's done dishes and laundry and cooking as you see

She's done pictures and shopping and laughing and things

She's held her head high while the storms are a blow

She's gone through the night with pain head to toe

You might say she's normal, it's what all good mothers do

But for me she gave her all, so for that I say thank you

Happy Mother's day!"


	30. AN Last chapters info

Hello everyone! I'm going to be perfectly honest and say the perfect stranger up-dates are on hold for a while because since I have just a few chapters left to write, I want them to flow nicely. It's going to be a little while since I don't want to be too cliche buuuuuuut at the same time I need the ending to be like I planned...(not including the bonus chapter) So I'm really sorry! After about a month, check your favorites constantly or however it is you always re-find me! (Hopefully) thank you for understanding! I just don't want it to be too disappointing of an ending.


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